The invitation for the concert comes from the Sanjam Nagar Institute of Philosophy and Art, Lahore. Institute director Raza Kazim said that the people of Pakistan have been starved of the aesthetic experience of dance. ``No Indian dancer from Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak or any other style has ever been invited to give a concert here. Let a beginning be made with Odissi.''

Mudgal, who has received numerous awards including the Sanskriti award in 1984, the Padma Shri in 1990 and the Orissa State Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1996, said she was delighted at the prospect of being the first Indian dancer to perform across thebarbed wires. ``I am very excited and there is a responsibility on me to perform well. Some three years ago, I performed in Bangladesh and that was after a long gap of anything Indian having been presented there,'' she said. The response had been overwhelming.Pakistani audiences have been starved of dance for a long time. The worst form of repression was under Zia-ul Haq, forcing talented Pakistani Kathak exponent Nahid Siddiqui to migrate to England.

Welcoming this move, Iqbal Ahmad, Islamabad-based columnist of Dawn, who is on a visit to Delhi, said: ``This should be the beginning of an open and meaningful cultural exchange.''