Shyamhari Chakra

84-year-old Maguni Charan Kuanr of Keonjhar is a cult figure among puppeteers as the pioneer of the highly-stylised rod puppetry tradition of Odisha, locally known as Kathi-Kandhei Nacha.…

Thirteen years ago, teenager Debojyoti Dhar from Howrah in West Bengal came to Cuttack to study architecture at the Piloo Mody College of Architecture. Little did Debojyoti imagine then that…

I have been meeting and watching US-based Bharatanatyam dancer Anwesha Das for more than a decade. But never did she let out that she is the daughter of well-known IAS officer Saktikant Das,…

A cosmetic dental surgeon by profession and an artist by passion, Cuttack-based Ankita Chhawchharia Goenka was born in Assam and raised in Raipur. Following her marriage, she has been…

Chinese Odissi dancer Wu Kan has been living in Bhubaneswar for the past five years to master the dance form at Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra’s Odissi institution 'Srjan'. She is the first…

Odisha’s unique Mogul Tamasha occupies a place of pride on the theatre-map of India. Created nearly 250 years ago, this folk theatre form is found only in and around Bhadrak town. Known…

Born to London-based Odia parents, gifted young Odissi dancer and doctor, Rani Natalie Rout is a citizen of the United Kingdom. Her father Jayakrushna Rout was a doctor while her mother Usha…

Twenty years ago, Arun Ojha of the non-descript Barigaon village in Keonjhar district quit his job as a young lecturer in economics to experiment with papier mache (the French word for…

“I wish my jeje to be born as my baby”. Silpika Maharana, granddaughter and disciple of late mardal maestro Guru Banamali Maharana, had almost everyone in tears with this wish of her's at…

Twelve years ago, Carolina Prada from the South American country of Colombia landed in Delhi with a scholarship from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to learn Odissi. Soon…