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March 2024   On March 31, 2024 the Parthasarathy Swami Sabha conferred NATYA KALA SARATHY on dancer Jayanthi Subramaniam at Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai.  Laya Laavanyaa Fine Arts Foundation of Dr. Umayalpuram Sivaraman conferred a cash award on Bharatanatyam dancer PRIYA MURLE in recognition of her contribution to Bharatanatyam on March 30, 2024 at Narada Gana Sabha mini hall, Chennai.  Manipur dance Guru Prof. Yaikhom Hemanta Kumar was awarded ‘BEST INNOVATIVE LECTURE AWARD (Academician)’ for the dance ‘Krishna Abhisar of Basanta Ras’ at the 25th CEC-UGC Educational Film Festival award ceremony in Indore on March 29, 2024. Award carries a citation, shawl and Rs.50,000 cash. The Kerala Kalamandalam Deemed University has lifted gender restrictions to enrol for its Mohiniattam course. According to a statement issued by the Registrar, Kalamandalam welcomes admissions irrespective of gender from the next academic year. The proposal was unanimously passed during an administrative meeting held on March 27, 2024.  Bharatanatyam dancer Rukmini Chatterjee received the insignia of CHEVALIER DANS L’ORDRE DES ARTS ET DES LETTRES (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) at the French Embassy in New Delhi on March 26, 2024. This award recognises her artistic achievements and contribution to building cultural bridges between India and France through the performing arts.  At the 105th birthday celebration of Guru Pankaj Charan Das by Guru Pankaj Charan Odissi Research Foundation, the MAHARI AWARD was given to Anita Sharma (Sattriya) on March 19, 2024 at Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar. The awardees on March 18 for their outstanding contributions include Guru Simanchal Das (GAUNI SAMPRADA for Odissi music & vocal), Guru Bagbhan Behera (MADELI SAMMAN for Odissi mardal), Guru Niranjan Behera (BINAKARA SAMMAN for Odissi music & composition), Ruparani Das Borah (NACHUNI SAMPRADA for classical dance)  Madhulita Mohapatra received the IIW SHE INSPIRES AWARD at London in the UK Parliament on March 12, 2024. The event was organised by Inspiring Indian Women (IIW) to celebrate International Women’s Day  Ratikant Mohapatra was awarded the SHATABDIRA KALAKAR AWARD by Shatabdira Kalakar, a renowned theatre group from Bhubaneswar, on March 11, 2024.  On March 10, 2024 the Chembur Fine Arts Society awarded its FAS STREE RATNA AWARD to Ananda Shankar Jayant, Darshana Jhaveri and Anupama Hoskere in Mumbai.  Dance therapist, dance educator and author TRIPURA KASHYAP received the INTERNATIONAL LADY LEGEND AWARD in the field of Art from Saksham Society on March 8, 2024.  Former Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and his daughter Deepa Venkat’s Swarna Bharat Trust honoured Parvathi Ravi Ghantasala with the LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD on March 8, 2024 at Nellore.  G. VENU, the renowned Kutiyattam actor and scholar received the AKADEMI PURASKAR for 2023 for his Overall Contribution towards Performing Arts given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi on March 6, 2024. He has played a major role in the conservation and preservation of the rare performing art forms like Pavakathakali, Tholppavakkoothu and Mudiyettu among others. He had formulated the first-ever notation system for the Indian dance forms and documented the mudras, (hand gestures) of the Indian classical art forms like Kutiyattam, Kathakali and Mohiniyattam. After conducting extensive research into the actor training technique of ‘Swaravayu,’ that was formulated at the Kodungallur Kalari, Venu derived his own actor training programme called ‘Navarasa Sadhana.’  Dr. Sadanam Harikumar was honoured with the title KALAA BHAASKARA on March 2, 2024 by Bharata Kalanjali during their Kathakali Festival in Chennai.  Sanatan Sangeet Sanskriti awarded the SANATAN SANGEET PURASKAR 2024 to Sudha Raghuraman (classical music) and Navina Jafa (classical dance), Vibha Galhotra (Visual Arts), Sudeep Sen (Literature), Aarti Gupta (Ideas) on 1st March 2024 at C. D. Deshmukh Auditorium, New Delhi. February 2024  Kuchipudi/Andhra Natyam Guru KALA KRISHNA received the Honorary Doctorate from Potti Sriramulu Telugu University.  Sanchari Trust presented the 1ST SANCHARI KALA SAMMAN to Guru Aruna Mohanty and the 1ST SAMAKSH YUVA SAMMAN to Rahul Acharya on 28th February 2024 at Utkal Rangamancha, Bhubaneswar.  On February 27, 2024 music and dance critic Dr. M Surya Prasad received the SRI THYAGARAJA PRASHASTHI award carrying a purse of Rs.10000, citation and a shawl, under the aegis of Mysore Mulakanadu Charitable Sabha, Mysore, on the occasion of its annual Sri Thyagaraja Aradhana festival.  Shastriya Nrithya Kalakarula Sankshema Samaikhya presented the BHARATAMUNI PURASHKAR to Veena Murthy Vijay on Feb 25, 2024 at Kakinadu, Andhra Pradesh, during the Bharatamuni Mahotsava.  On February 25, 2024 Kalanilayam presented the DR K VISWANATH GARI AWARD to Sharon Lowen at Hyderabad. Sharon considers it a privilege that the great director K. Viswanath selected her to play herself as inspiration for the heroine of ‘Swarnakamalam’ to value her own classical tradition. On Feb 20, 2024 at the golden jubilee (50th edition) event of the Khajuraho Dance Festival in Madhya Pradesh at the world renowned heritage site, 1484 artistes came together to set a new Guinness World Record for the biggest Kathak dance performance ever.  Natya Sampada school of dance presented KALAABHISAARIKE AWARD to Kalamandalam Usha Datar and Veena Murthy Vijay and NATYA SIRI AWARD to Dr. Sudharani and Manu Jagadish on February 17, 2024 at Ravindra Kalakshetra, Bangalore.  On the concluding day of the 20th Dhauli Mahotsav, Odisha, on February 11, 2024, the BUDDHA SAMMAN 2024 was presented to Madhavi Mudgal for her lifetime contribution in the field of Odissi dance. GURU GANGADHAR SMRUTI SAMMAN 2024 was presented to Guru Simanchala Patro (Prahallad Natak), Pt. Debendra Narayan Satapathy (Hindustani classical vocal), Odissi Guru Ratikant Mohapatra, and Dr. Siddhartha Mohanty (General Medical Practitioner).  Sarasalaya conferred the following awards on Feb 10, 2024 at the 12th Sarasa Natya Mala at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai. SWAYAM PRAKASHA NARTAKA: Sathyanarayana Raju NRITYA VIDYA RATNA: Parvathi Ravi Ghantasala NRITYA SANGEETHA RATNA: Murali Parthasarathy KJ SARASA MEMORIAL AWARD: S Janaki Pravaas, produced by Akademi and choreographed by Vidya Patel, received THE GREEN DANCE AWARD at One Dance UK Awards held on 10 February 2024 at Coventry. This award celebrates work that uses dance as a tool to spotlight and respond to environmental & climate issues.  The first PANDIT BIRJU MAHARAJ SAMMAN was conferred by Kalashram on tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain on Feb 3, 2024 at Delhi’s Kamani auditorium.  To recognise the decades of cultural service in Switzerland by D Keshava’s Kalasri, their research project ‘48 YEARS OF DANCE STORY BETWEEN BASEL (SWITZERLAND) AND MYSORE (INDIA)’ is selected by the Basel City Cultural Dept. for 2024.  Soorya Foundation for Performing Arts (Los Angeles-Atlanta) founded by Sushma Mohan, has been awarded ‘2024 GRANTS FOR ARTS PROJECTS’ by the National Endowment for the Arts. This grant was awarded under ‘Grants for Arts Projects - Folk & Traditional Arts’ category to support its annual Los Angeles Indian Dance Festival - LAIDF, featuring Indian classical dancers and dance companies. Two other Indian performing arts organizations in the US received 2024 grants from the NEA - Chhandayan (New York, NY) and Ragamala Dance (Minneapolis, MN).  Sujata Srinivasan has been awarded the 2024 INDIVIDUAL EXCELLENCE AWARD FOR CHOREOGRAPHY by the Ohio Arts Council. She shares this honor with six other outstanding choreographers, out of a pool of 500 applicants.  Bharatanatyam and Kathak dancer and teacher based in Montgomery, AL, SUDHA RAGHURAM has received 2 grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts for 2024 - the Folk arts apprenticeship grant and a project grant titled ‘All the world is a stage’ to organize dance recitals by her students in the Public Libraries of Montgomery. January 2024  RAM GOPAL: INTERWEAVING HISTORIES OF INDIAN DANCE written by Anne R David is published by Bloomsbury. Both a biography and a history, this book explores the significant role that Indian dancer Ram Gopal (1912-2003) played in bringing Indian dance to international audiences from the 1930s to the late 1960s.  G.Venu a performer, teacher and scholar of Kutiyattam received the highest honour of Fellowship from Kerala Kalamandalam, a deemed University, for the year 2022. The Fellowship encompasses a cash of Rs.50,000, citation and silk shawl. G. Venu has devised the Navarasa Sadhana module as a transformative process for artistes seeking a deeper insight to the depths and diversity of human emotions. He is the founder of Natanakairali (Research and Performing Centre for Traditional Arts). He has authored 20 books on the performing arts of Kerala. Venu was a visiting Master Teacher of Kutiyattam at the National School of Drama in Delhi as well as Intercultural Theatre Institute in Singapore. Prize winners of Madras Music Academy’s17th Annual Dance Festival 2024 - Bharatanatyam solo (seniors) G. Narendra: Best dancer Meenakshi Srinivasan: Outstanding dancer - Sub seniors - First lot Mahati Kannan: Best dancer Harinie Jeevitha: Outstanding dancer - Sub seniors - Second lot Jyotsna Jagannathan: Best dancer KP Rakesh: Outstanding dancer - Juniors Bhavajan Kumar: Best dancer Medha Hari: Outstanding dancer  On the birth centenary celebrations of their founder Kartik Rajagopal on January 28, 2024, Chennai based Kartik Fine Arts presented KARTIK KALA SAMRAT award to Dr.Padma Subrahmanyam, at Narada Gana Sabha main hall, Chennai.  Kalamandalam Saraswathy received the KALA SARATHI - A CHARIOTEER OF ARTS AWARD by the World Forum for Art and Culture, Art of Living, at Bangalore on 26th January 2024.  Sadhna Shrivastav launched her maiden book ‘LEGENDS IN ONE FRAME’ with photographs by the legendary Avinash Pasricha, published by Shubi Publications, on Jan 24, 2024 at New Delhi.  Drishti Art Foundation presented the DRISHTI SRESHTA PURASKAR to Bharatanatyam Guru M R Krishnamurthy for his invaluable contributions to the field of Indian classical dance, on January 20, 2024 at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Bangalore.  Aurangabad based Mahagami’s SARNGADEVA SAMMAN was conferred on eminent Manipuri Guru Darshana Jhaveri as a gesture of appreciation and reverence for her lifelong commitment and contribution to the Indian Arts and Manipuri dance tradition, in the third week of January 2024. On January 14, 2024 Nalanda Dance Research Centre bestowed NALANDA’S KANAKA NARTANA PURASKAR 2023 on Dr.Jayashree Rajagopalan, Keka Sinha, Dr.Prakriti Bhaskar, Dr. Sandip Soparrkar, Vikram Kumar Bathina at its premises in Mumbai. The recipients of NALANDA BHARATA MUNI SAMMAN 2023 are Hema Malini, Darshana Jhaveri, Padma Sharma, Ashit Desai (music), Paresh Rawal (theatre).  Guru Gajendra Kumar Panda received the SWAYAMSHREE NRUTYA PRATIVA SAMMAN 2024 on January 6, 2024 at Souvagya Auditorium, Talcher, organized by Swayamshree Nrutya Anusthan. On Jan 9, he receivedODISHA PERSONALITY AWARD 2024 at Geeta Govinda Sadan, Bhubaneswar, organized by Samayanti Charitable Trust.  The Madras Music Academy presented the SANGITA KALANIDHI award for 2023 to Bombay Jayashri and NRITHYA KALANIDHI award to Vasanthalakshmi Narasimhachari. The music award was conferred at the Sadas on Jan 1, 2024 and dance award on Jan 3, 2024 at the inauguration of the 17th Annual Dance Festival in Chennai.  Shreema Upadhyaya, disciple of P Praveen Kumar, received THE BEST DANCER award from Madras Music Academy (HCL concert series) on January 3, 2024, Chennai.  Bhavan’s Chennai Chapter awarded EXCELLENCE IN BHARATANATYAM AWARD to Dr.Narthaki Nataraj and Zakir Hussain on Jan 2, 2024.  Dance photographer R Deepak received the ELEGANCE IN MOTION award from Jatin Academy of Dance, Bengaluru, headed by Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam dancer Archana Punyesh, on January 2, 2024 at Ravindra Kalakshetra, “for outstanding contribution as photographer in promoting traditional Indian classical dance.” Seetha Ratnakar’s documentary on her mother’s musical journey titled ASAMANA ANASUYA was nominated in the competition category at Jaipur International Film Festival Highlights - Yearwise listing |
