Nritya Pratibha
Festival of Young Dancers
25-29 November 2005
Jammu

Programme

Friday 25 November

MANAS KUMAR DAS & ADYASHA RAY, Bhubaneswar - Odissi
UTTARA RAO,Delhi - Bharatanatyam
ANUJ MISHRA, Lucknow - Kathak

Saturday 26 November

ADDI & SHRUTI SHARMA, Jammu - Kathak
BADALA PADMA ATAA SATTRA & CHAITALI DUTTA, Assam - Sattriya
ABHINAYA PRANEETHA, Delhi - Kuchipudi

Sunday 27 November

MANIPURI JAGO I MARUP, Imphal - Manipuri
VIJAYA KUMAR, Kottayam - Kathakali
NISHA THAKUR, Chandigarh - Kathak
KEDAR ART CENTRE, Seraikella - Chhau Seraikella

Monday 28 November

MAHENDRA PARIHAR, Delhi - Kathak
VEENA & DHANYA VENUGOPALAN NAIR, Bangalore - Mohiniattam
SWAPAN MAJUMDAR, Delhi - Chhau/Innovative Dance

Tuesday 29 November

PIYALI DE, Delhi - Odissi
MANORAMA RAWAT & DEEPAK BHATT, Dehradun - Kathak
SWAPNA SESHADRI, PREMA SRIDHARAN
& TANVIR VEHNNAL, Delhi - Bharatanatyam

Manas Kumar Das

Manas Kumar Das trained in Odissi dance under the tutelage of Shri Naba Kishore Mishra. He received the National Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India. He has also completed Bhaskar Purna in Odissi dance from Chandigarh. He has performed within the State and outside in various festivals both as soloist and as part of Abartta group. Presently, he is assisting his teacher in imparting training to young Odissi dancers.

Adyasha Ray

Adyasha Ray received her initial training in Odissi dance under Shri Pratap Kishore Biswal and later from Shri Naba Kishore Mishra. She received National Scholarship from Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India. She has completed Nrutya Shastri Purna from Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi. Adyasha has performed in various festivals within the State and outside both as a soloist as well as part of the Abartta group. She continues to perform as a senior dancer of the institution.

Uttara Rao

Uttara Rao learnt Bharatnatyam under Smt. Kanaka Srinivasan. She received the Sahitya Kala Parishad Scholarship for her training in dance. She has participated in several dance festivals and lecture demonstrations along with her guru. Some of her major performances include the Thyagraja Dance Festival organized by Shanmukhananda Sangeet Sabha, Narad Gana Sabha organized by Kartik Fine Arts in Delhi, Chennai and other places. As part of Nrityaranjani Dance School of her guru, she has participated in International Culture Festival, Beijing, Peru, Brazil and Columbia.

Anuj Mishra

Anuj Mishra was initiated in Kathak under the tutelage of his father Shri Arjun Mishra. He completed Nritya Praveen from Payag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad and Nritya Nipun from Bhatkhande Sangeet Maha Vidyalaya. He trained in playing Tabla under Shri Ravinath Mishra and his elder brother Shri Vikash Mishra. Anuj is receiving training in Vocal Music from Shri Dharmnath Mishra and Shri Gulsan Bharati.

He has performed extensively within the state and outside in several dance festivals including the National Youth Festival, Trivandrum and events organized by prestigious institutions such as Kathak Kendra, Lucknow and Delhi. Padatik. Kolkata and Kadam, Ahmedabad.

Addi Sharma & Shruti Sharma

Addi and Shruti Sharma received their training in Kathak dance under Shri Vishwanath Kohli at the Institute of Music & Fine Arts, Jammu. Both of them have given several recitals of Kathak dance within Jammu and outside in many prestigious concerts organized by the Institute of Music & Fine Arts, Jammu. They continue to specialize in this art under Shri Kohli.

Shree Shree Badala Padma Ataa Kristi Kendra: Gayan Bayan

Shri Shri Badala Padma Atta Sattra was established in the year 1636 at Narayanpur in the district of Lakhimpur by Shri Shri Padma Atta (1546-1676) soon after his religious association with Madhavdeva, the great disciple of the great Guru Srimanta Sankaradeva. Shri Shri Padma Ataa devoted himself fully to the propagation of Vaishnavite faith as well as promotion of Sattriya Culture over a large area. Even after the passing away of Shri Shri Padma Ataa, Shri Shri Badala Sattra is looked upon with great veneration by the vaishnavas.

Chaitali Dutta

Chaitali Dutta has received her training in Sattriya Dance from Shri Govinda Saikia subsequently at Sangit Satra Pariksha Parishad. She has also attended workshops organized by Sangeet Satra and Sadou Asom Sattriya Sangeet Sikshak Samaj.

Chaitali has performed extensively within the State and outside including Inter State Cultural Exchange Programme at Daman, Bhairav Kunda Festival, Mangaldoi, Bhasa Bibhag Sanskriti Bibhag, Himachal Pradesh, National School of Drama organized by Katha and Nritya Parva by Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi at Guwahati.

Abhinaya Praneetha

Abhinaya Praneetha received her training in Kuchipudi from her mother Smt. Seetha Nagajothy. She received scholarship from the CCRT, Govt. of India for her training in dance. She has performed in various dance festivals organized at Delhi Tamil Sangam, A.P. Bhavan, Andhra Vaita Mandali and Ayyappa Temple. She has participated in several dance dramas composed by her mother Smt. Seetha Nagajothy. Abhinaya Praneetha performed in Dance Festival Ananya and a Kuchipudi Dance Festival organized by Sri Jayaramarao in New Delhi.

Manipuri Jagoi Marup, Imphal

Manipuri Jagoi Marup is one of the leading Manipuri Dance institution of the country founded by Late Guru Amubi Singh in 1963. This troupe has given more than four thousand performances all over the country and visited Iran, Japan, Canada, Germany, Egypt, France and Thailand etc. The group has also performed in various national and international dance conferences, lecture demonstrations and workshops.

Kalamandalam Vijaya Kumar

Kalamandalam Vijaya Kumar trained in Kathakali at Kerala Kalamandalam under the guidance of Guru Kalamandalam Vashu Pisharoti. He received scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India for his post graduation in Kathakali.

He has participated in many festivals and events led by major Kathakali performers in India and abroad. He has performed in USA and Dubai. Vijaya Kumar has received Chalakkudi Nanisam Smaraka Kathakali Award for junior in 2005.

Presently, he is working as a teacher in Sandarsan Kathakali Vidyalayam, Ambalappuzha.

Nisha Thakur

Nisha Thakur had her training in Kathak dance under Smt. Shobha Koser. She received a scholarship from Punjab University, Chandigarh to pursue her training in dance. She has performed in various dance and music festivals organized in the Punjab University, Pracheen Kala Kerndra, IPTA and events organized by Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. Presently, she is specializing in the arts under her teacher, Smt. Koser.

Artists of Kedar Art Centre, Seraikella

Sri Kedar Art Centre was founded on April 1,1988, by Guru Kedar Nath Sahoo, former Director of Government Chhau Dance Centre, Seraikella and renowned teacher, artist and choreographer. The Kedar Art Centre has been rendering significant service in imparting training to young students in Seraikella based on a syllabus that seeks to preserve the purity of the dance form. The institute attracts students and researchers from all over and under the guidance of its present Director, Shri Malay Kumar Sahu, the Centre has presented many performances in India and abroad.

Mahendra Parihar

Shri Mahendra Parihar belongs to a traditional family of dancers and musicians, he was initiated into dance under his father Shri Shiv Dutt Parihar and later received training in Kathak dance of the Jaipur Gharana from Shri Rajendra Gangani. He subsequently specialized at the Kathak Kendra, New Delhi on a scholarship. He also received training as a Pakhawaj player. He has performed in major dance festivals such as Kathak Mahotsava, Soorya Festival and Sarnath Festival and has participated in dance compositions of eminent artists including Smt. Shovana Narayan, Smt. Uma Sharma and Pt. Birju Maharaj. He has toured Poland and Austria and Slovac Republic through ICCR.

Veena and Dhanya Venugopalan Nair

Veena and Dhanya Venugopalan Nair initially trained under Smt. Sridevi Unni and Smt Kalamandalam Radhika. Thereafter, they continued their training under the guidance of Smt. Kalamandalam Kshemavathi. They have also learnt Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music. Veena and Dhanya received the scholarship from CCRT for training in Mohiniattam. They have participated in several festivals including Dassara Festival, Sharadotsav, Ankura Festival, Kinkini Nrityotsav, Chambai festival, World Peace Conference and Navarathri festival.

Swapan Majumdar
Swapan Majumdar trained in Chhau dance in Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, New Delhi under Shri S.D. Nair and later under Shri Ajay Baitha, Shri Ramakant Ben and Shri Ram Chandra Das. He learnt Kathak from Shri Rajendra Gangani and Kalariapayattu from Smt Daksha Seth at Kerala. He has performed lead roles in the dance dramas of Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra presented all over the country and abroad including Bangkok, Mauritius, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. He has also danced in various choreographic works of Smt. Aditi Mangaldas, Shri Rajendra Gangani, Smt. Nandini Singh. Presently, he is teaching dance to young children in schools.

Piyali De

Piyali De received her training in Odissi dance from Smt. Madhavi Mudgal at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Delhi. She has participated in workshops conducted by Late Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She received various scholarships such as CCRT, Sahitya Kala Parishad and the Ministry of Culture for advanced training in Odissi.

Piyali De has performed extensively within the country and outside in several dance festivals such as Konark, Puri Beach, Sopan Festival, ICCR's Horizon series and Yuva Mahotsav organized by Sahitya Kala Parishad, Delhi. She has traveled for performances to South America and South¬-East Asia and Russia. She has served as a faculty member in the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya and imparted training to young dancers.

Manorama Rawat and Deepak Bhatt

Manorama Rawat and Deepak Bhatt received their training in dance under Shri Madhukar Anand at Bhatkhande Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Dehradun. They have completed Visharad in Kathak Dance from Indira Kala Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh. They have participated in various events within the State and outside as lead dancers of the Bhatkhande Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Dehradun.

Swapna Seshadri

Swapna Seshadri had her training Bharatanatyam under the tutelage of Smt. Saroja Vidyanathan at Ganesa Natyalaya. She received national scholarship for her training in dance from Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India.

Swapna Seshadri has performed extensively within the country and outside including Tamil Nadu Tourism Festival, Taj Mahotsav, Surya Festival, Swaralaya and National Youth Festival in Jamshedpur. She has also traveled to Ohio, Coloumbus and Beijing for performances. Presently she is assisting her guru in imparting training to Young students at Ganesa Natyalaya.

Prema Sridharan

Prema Sridharan was initiated into dance under the tutelage of Smt. Saroja Vaidyanathan. She has received scholarship from Ministry of Culture, Govt of India.

Prema Sridhran has performed extensively within the country and outside in various festivals such as Srishti festival of Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavan, Mylapore, Pratibha Utsav, Allahabad organized by Department of Culture, and performance in Chennai under Sri Sang am Fine Arts. Prema also toured to Mauritius, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and China. Prema has also assisted her guru in conducting workshops on Bharatanatyam.

Tanvir Vehnival

Tanvir Vehnival has received his training in Bharatanatyam under Smt. Saroja Vaidyanathan. He has performed in various festivals with his guru such as Jhansi Mahotsav, Bharat Yatra Mahotsav, December Art festival organized by Brahma Gana Sava, Chennai and Uday Shankar Dance festival at Jaipur Tanvir has worked as Dance Instructor at Bal Bhawan, New Delhi Presently he is working as a teacher at Ganesa Natyalaya.