Dance Is The Divine Journey Of Mind And Body To The Ultimate Bliss
Sahana R.Maiya
Young talented Madhulita Mohapatra has carved a niche as one of the leading Odissi exponents in south India. A disciple of Guru Shri Gangadhar Pradhan, Guru Smt. Aruna Mohanty, Guru Shri Pabitra Kumar Pradhan & Guru Krushnachandra Sahoo, she is admired & applauded by the connoisseurs & critics alike, for her profound artistry and her innate abhinaya quality. A graded artiste of Doordarshan & an empanelled artiste of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Madhulita Mohapatra has performed at several prestigious events across the country & overseas. She is selflessly devoted to the promotion & popularisation of Odissi in South India dance through her institution, Nrityantar, by performing, teaching and nurturing finest talents. Nrityantar Dance Ensemble is one of the most sought after classical dance troupes from Karnataka and is invited by major art festivals.​​
she is the recipient of the prestigious IIDF 2017 & BCKA Yuva Kala Pratibha awards, Kempegowda award from Bengaluru Mahanagara palike and Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Prathibha award from Sangeeth Natak Academy, and many more ...
We fondly call her didi and She is the most generous guru that i have ever seen. I 'm currently getting advance training under her and performing with her in ensemble. I am so grateful to her for showering love and giving so much exposure in odissi fraternity not just me but i have seen her helping young talented artists and pushing them to perform and helping them to build their carrier in dance. Me along with other ensemble members, we have made some unforgettable performance memories, dance travel with didi. When we are in Nrityantar for rehearsals and practice its always feels like home to us , we dance, we eat , we laugh and more..
I am so fortunate to be associated with Nrityantar Team and hoping to make many more sweet memories in future.
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Being a first full time resident student in Nrityagram , Guru Uday Kumar Shetty go this training in Odissi under the guidance of Late Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and Late Guru Protima Bedi. Later he along with his wife Soumya Uday Kumar Shetty continued to Perform and train students in their institution Kalatheera. Under Kalatheera he had organised popular dance festivals in Karnataka called Tunga mahotsav and Shivarpana..Being an Empanelled artists from ICCR they have performed in major dance festivals in and around India and abroad.
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He was the one who inspired me to learn Odissi, Iwas so amazed by his graceful movements and started my initial training under him. Under his guidance I was able to perform in dance festivals like Sahyadri utsava, Chaitrada chiguru from DD chandana , and Shivarpana ..
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Guru Prof. M. R. Krishna Murthy, fondly known as Kittu Sir, founder of Kalakshithi School of Fine Arts, Bangalore, is the disciple of the legendary Rukmini Devi Arundale of Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai. He underwent rigorous and disciplined training by the legendary Smt. Rukmini Devi for more than a decade and further special training from Smt. Mylapore Gowriammal, N.S Jayalakshmi, Smt. Sarada Hoffman, Prof. Pushpa Shankar and Smt.Vasanta Vedam. The well-known Kathakali exponent Guru T. K. Chandu Panicker initiated him into the intricacies of Kathakali.
​He founded Kalakshithi, School of Fine Arts in the year 1991 in Bangalore to nurture young talent in the art. His ambition is to teach succeeding generations dance in its purest form, in the tradition he learnt in Kalakshetra, adhering to the highest quality of education without any compromises. He has been the recipient of several awards and honors. These include "Rajyotsava Award "Karnataka Kalashri", "Natya Tapasvi", "Natya Rasa Rushi", "Purandara Prashasti", "Purvankara Sangeetha Award" , "The Artist of the Year 2000", "Chandana Puraskara" to name a few.
I am Extremely greatful to God for blessing me getting trained under one of the top most Dance school which follows Gurukul style of Training and a guru like Kittu Sir. My rigorous advance training in Bharathnatyam under Kittu Sir himself for about 8 yrs in Kalakshetra style has helped a lot in understanding the conceptual meaning of Dance and its theory. I was so lucky to spend most of the time with Kittu sir during those 8yrs, his positive way of looking life and motivating us with his enormous energy had made biggest positive impact in my dance journey and interacting with him closely hours together about his dance life in kalakshetra and his days with Guru Rukhmini Devi Arundale had taught me many things not just about dance but about life too.
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Vidwan S.Keshava Kumar Pillai started his Bharathnatyam learning at his early age with Vidwan S.P. Shankar later he continued and perceived Vidwath under the guidene of Vidushi Smt. Sri Valli Ambarish who was a disciple of Padma Bhushan Dr.Venklakshmamma who was a dancer in Mysore Aasthana.
Vidwan S. Keshava Kumar Pillai awarded Gold Medal in the Karnataka State level Bharata Natya competition in the year 1988.
Vidwan S. Keshava Kummar Pillai is a Bharathanatyam Guru by profession and established a institution called Natanam Bala Natya Kendra at Shivamogga (S.),karnataka(D.) in the year 1989 and got recognition and affiliated from Nehru's National Bal Bhavan, New Delhi of Government of India.
He has also written a Book on dance called "Nritya Ondu Kreede" (Dance is sport) in Kannada.
He has been awarded with Prestigious Karnataka Kalashree Award by Sangeetha Nataka Academy, Karnataka , Nrutya Nipuna State Award By Nritya Kala Parishat Bengaluru, Dr. Rajkumar Sadana Rathna State Award , Parisara Ratna National Award By Kuvempu University, Dr Pandit Puttaraj Krupa Bhushan Yuva Prashasti National Award and Many more... ​
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II am so fortunate to have him as my first Guru in Bharathnatyam and so privileged to be his first ever student. Under his guidance I started my dance journey at the age of 4 and being his first student got the opportunity to see his dedication and perseverance towards the art form very closely and helped me to understand the effort that it takes and motivated me to work in same way. I am So blessed to learn the techniques of Tanjavur style of Bharathnatyam and was able to perform in various prestigious festivals and cultural exchange events across India with him.
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