Sixth Day: Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardees’ Festival

The Sixth Day: Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardees’ Festival

New Delhi, July 28: The Sixth day of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardees’ Festival, featuring recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards 2010, being held between 23-31 July in the premises of Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) here, witnessed four performances by noted artistes, namely – Aruna Mohanty – Odissi, Phanjoubam Iboton Singh – Manipuri Ras, Budhatitya Mukherjee – Sitar, and Maya Krishna Rao – Solo theatre performance Quality Street in English.

Profile of these artistes are detailed below:
ARUNA MOHANTY
Born in 1960 in Bhubaneswar, Shrimati Aruna Mohanty stepped into the realm of performing arts under the guidance of her father, Shri Kamala Lochana Mohanty, a well-known theatre personality. She acted in several Oriya plays and films in the mid-1960s in children’s roles. At a later stage, Shrimati Aruna Mohanty started learning Odissi dance under gurus Srinath Rout and Govinda Pal. From 1972 onwards she was a disciple of Shri Gangadhar Pradhan, who groomed her as a dancer, teacher and choreographer. She also had the privilege of receiving guidance in the art from Gurus Pankaj Charan Das, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Sanjukta Panigrahi

and Sonal Mansingh. She also trained in Odissi music under Shri Nirmal Mohanty and Shantanu Das. An outstanding exponent of Odissi dance, Shrimati Aruna Mohanty has won renown both as a performer and teacher. She has performed extensively, participating in prestigious dance festivals in India and abroad. She has trained several young dancers of promise at the Orissa Dance Academy, Bhubaneswar, where she has worked as Member-Secretary since 1993. She has also undertaken research on dance, covering topics such as representation of the male dancer in classical sculpture and evolution of Odissi in the post-Independence era. She has been guest faculty at several U.S. universities including the universities of California, South Carolina, and Cornell. She has received several honours for her work including awards from the Guru Pankaj Charan Odissi Research Foundation and the Sanjukta Panigrahi Memorial Trust. Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, has also accorded recognition to her work in dance. She is at present Vice-President of the Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi, Bhubaneswar.Shrimati Aruna Mohanty has received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 2010 for her contribution to Odissi dance.

PHANJOUBAM IBOTON SINGH

Born in 1951 in Durgabol village in Assam, Shri Phanjoubam Iboton Singh was initiated in the art of Pung-playing in Nata Sankirtan by Shri Meitram Lalbabu Singh and Shri Meitram Mangol Singh. Later, he trained under Shri Soram Budha Singh and Sanasam Yaima Singh. He subsequently trained and specialized in Manipuri Ras under Gurus K. Lokeshwar Singh, G. Ibopishak Sharma, R.K. Sanayaima Singh and L. Thambalngoubi Devi. He obtained a Post-graduate Diploma both in Ras and Pung at the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy, Imphal.Shri Iboton Singh has excelled as a performer and teacher of Manipuri dance and as a Pung-player. He has been teaching since 1984 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy, and is presently serving as its Pradhan Guru. He has performed extensively in India and other countries including China, South Korea, Greece, Spain, Italy, France and Germany. He has written two books in Manipuri titled Manipuri Ras Amashung Atei Krishna Lilasing and Maharas Amashung Kunjaras Punglon.He has received several honours including the Manipur State Kala Akademi Award, the Gold Medal of the Manipur Sahitya Parishad, and the title of Nitya Bhushan conferred by the Manipuri Sahitya Parishad of Assam.Shri Phanjoubam Iboton Singh has received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 2010 for his contribution to Manipuri dance.

BUDHADITYA MUKHERJEE
Born in 1955 in Durg in Chhattisgarh, Shri Budhaditya Mukherjee received his training in the Sitar from his father Shri Bimalendu Mukherjee, an eminent musician of the Imdadkhani gharana. At the same time he qualified as a metallurgist, receiving a gold medal for his performance in B.E. from the Government College of Engineering and Technology, Raipur, in 1977.Since the start of his career in the 1970s, Shri Budhaditya Mukherjee has been hailed as an artist of outstanding merit. Upholding the tradition of the Imdadkhani gharana of Sitar, he has acquired a lyrical style in his music that reflects the gayaki ang. The depth of his alap and his intricate tankari mark his mastery over his instrument. He has performed extensively in festivals both in India and abroad. He has the distinction of being invited to perform in Britain’s House of Commons in 1990. He has played frequently over All India Radio and Doordarshan, and has a large number of recordings to his credit. For his outstanding musicianship, Shri Budhaditya Mukherjee has been conferred high honours by the Government of Madhya Pradesh. These include the Ustad Allauddin Khan Fellowship awarded in 1977 and the Kumar Gandharva Samman bestowed in 1994. Shri Budhaditya Mukherjee has received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 2010 for his contribution to Hindustani instrumental music.

MAYA KRISHNA RAO
Born in 1953 in New York, Shrimati Maya Krishna Rao is based in Delhi. Actor, director, writer, educator and activist, she is recognized as an original, innovative, and vastly talented creator of theatre today. Since the late 1970s, she has produced a body of work that has provoked her audiences to delve into social and political issues, even as it has amused and entertained them. A founder-member of the street theatre group Theatre Union, Shrimati Maya Rao scripted, directed, and performed powerful street plays such as Om Swaha, a critique of dowry, and Dafa No. 180, on the Indian rape law, between 1979 and 1982. In later years, she has produced a succession of compelling single-actor plays such as Ravanama, Are You Home Lady Macbeth?, A Deep Fried Jam, and Heads Are Meant for Walking Into. Quality Street, based on a short story by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie, was presented by her to great acclaim last year. Shrimati Maya Rao has received training in Kathakali from Gurus Madhava Pannikar and Sadanam Balakrishnan. She has studied politics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and theatre arts at Leeds University, UK. She has worked briefly with the Perspectives Theatre Company in Nottingham, UK, designing programmes of community interest, and with the Leeds Playhouse Theatre-in-Education Company creating theatre programmes for schools. At home, too, she has been much involved with children’s theatre, conceiving, scripting, and directing a number of plays for NSD’s TIE Company. She was Associate Professor at NSD from 1985 to 1990, and has been visiting faculty at the School since those years. A member of NCERT's National Curriculum Framework Committee, she has drafted a drama syllabus for Classes I to XII. A Doordarshan film was made on her work in 1997, titled Portrait of Maya Krishna Rao. She has been featured in Women Who Dared, a book on twenty notable Indian women of the last fifty years, published by the National Book Trust. Shrimati Maya Krishna Rao receives the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her contribution to Indian theatre as an actor.



The Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratna Sadasyata) and Akademi Award (Akademi Puraskar) are the most coveted national honours conferred on performing artists, gurus and scholars of the performing arts. These honours are decided by the Akademi’s General Council, the apex body consisting of eminent artists, scholars and nominees of the Government of India and of different States and Union Territories of the country.

Sangeet Natak Akademi, established by the Government of India on 31 May 1952, is the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama. It was created as the apex body in the country for the task of preservation and promotion of the performing art traditions of India. One of the important activities of the Akademi has been to give recognition and honours to artists in order to set standards in the performing arts, and to restore art and the artists to their rightful place in independent India.