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Mar 2026  Nandalala Seva Samiti Trust conferred NANDA DEEPAM title on Bharatanatyam dancer PRIYAMVADA MURALI for being a "cultural visionary and torchbearer of tradition" on March 21, 2026 at Bangalore.  Alliance University bestowed the ALLIANCE MAHILA SPANDANA AWARD 2026 on VYJAYANTHI KASHI on 14th March 2026 at Bangalore.  On March 14, 2026 the GURU DURGA CHARAN RANBIR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD was conferred upon veteran Odissi exponent ALOKA KANUNGO, while the GURU DURGA CHARAN RANBIR YUVA PURASKAR was presented to Kuchipudi dancer AVIJIT DAS at Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar.  SNEHA MUKHERJEE, a 21-year-old MBA student, has secured the 1st Position at the 39th AIU Inter-University National Youth Festival (Kalai Saaral), hosted by Sathyabama IST Chennai from March 10-14, 2026. A former Darpana Academy of Performing Arts scholar, Sneha competed against the top talent from eight zones of India to claim the national title. The achievement recalls a historic moment in the early 1960s when students of Mrinalini Sarabhai won the Bharatanatyam category five consecutive years, creating a nationwide sensation.  DR. ANURADHA JONNALAGADDA TADAKAMALLA, Kuchipudi exponent and Head of the Department of Dance, Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication, University of Hyderabad, has been appointed as the first woman Vice-Chancellor (in charge) of the University of Hyderabad. She took charge of the office from March 12, 2026.  UK Leeds-based, artistic director BALBIR SINGH, a disciple of Kathak Guru Pratap Pawar, received his MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) at Windsor Castle on 10 March 2026 from Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal for services to dance, marking a significant moment for the Indian classical tradition in the United Kingdom.  Mohiniattam artiste and scholar Guru NIRMALA PANICKER was conferred the SHATKALA GOVINDA MARAR PURASKARAM by Kalasamithy on March 8, 2026 at Natanakairali, Irinjalakuda, in recognition of her outstanding contribution and extensive research in the field of classical performing arts. The award honours her dedicated efforts in enriching and revitalizing three significant traditional art forms of Kerala - Mohiniattam, Nangiar Koothu and Thiruvathirakali.  Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai, presented the RAJALAKSHMI LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD to Bharatanatyam Guru SHANTA DHANANJAYAN on March 4, 2026.  ARAVINTH KUMARASAMY, Artistic Director of Apsaras Dance Company, was honoured with the ARTS EXCELLENCE AWARD 2026 by Pravasi Express on 1 March 2026. The award was presented by Dinesh Vasu Dash, Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth & Manpower, Singapore. Feb 2026  Guru G. VENU has been awarded the KERALA SANGEETHA NATAKA AKADEMI FELLOWSHIP for 2025 in recognition of his lifelong contribution to the world of Koodiyattam, Navarasa Sadhana, and The World Theatre. The fellowship carries a cash award of ₹50,000, citation, plaque and sculpture. GURUPUJA PURASKARAM goes to KALANILAYAM GOPI (Kathakali), KALAMANDALAM SREEKUMAR (Kathakali) and THRISSUR JANARDHANAN (music and dance).  Sarasalaya presented KJ SARASA MEMORIAL AWARD to Yogam Santhanam (vocalist) and Bharatanatyam dancer Urmila Sathyanarayanan on February 21, 2026 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai.  KAPILA VENU received the DEVI AWARD from The New Indian Express group on February 21, 2026 at Kochi, for taking Kutiyattam all over the world and keeping alive one of the oldest living theatre traditions across nations. 11 exceptional women achievers from Kerala from diverse fields who have broken barriers and redefined possibilities in their domains and are icons of inspiration for the coming generations were honored on the occasion of celebrating ‘Naari Shakti' at the 38th edition of the Devi Awards.  On the eve of Shivaratri, February 15, 2026, Shrishti Centre of Performing Arts presented SHRISHTI THANDAVAPRIYA NATIONAL AWARD for male dancers to DR SANJAY SHANTARAM in Bangalore.  NISHAGANDHI PURASKARAM for Manipuri dancer DARSHANA JHAVERI was conferred on February 13, 2026 at the inaugural ceremony of the week-long Nishagandhi Dance Festival organised by Kerala Tourism at Kanakakunnu Palace grounds, Thiruvananthapuram.  VARSHA VISHWANATH received the NEILA SATHYALINGAM MEMORIAL ENDOWMENT AWARD 2026 at the Remembering Neila Sathyalingam Festival on February 7, 2026 at Singapore.  Banaras Hindu University conferred KAUSTUBH KALAA RATNA AWARD on Parwati Dutta on February 4, 2026 for her outstanding contribution in the field of Indian arts, especially traditional dance forms. Parwati Dutta is known for research-oriented dance compositions and reconstruction of ancient dance traditions through deep research on Shastras.  Aditi Mangaldas and Drishtikon Dance Foundation announced the winners of DR SUNIL KOTHARI AWARD FOR EMERGING ARTISTS 2025. First: NILAVA SEN (Uday Shankar Style and Bharatanatyam) // The Traffic Second: NAVYASHREE K.N. (Bharatanatyam) // Antarvirodha Second: P.V. ADITHYA (Bharatanatyam) // Who Am I Nilava Sen gets the award citation along with the cash prize of Rs. 75,000. Both Navyashree K.N and P.V Adithya stood a joint second and will share the second prize and receive Rs. 12,500 each. The jury members give a special mention to the works submitted by: SUSANTA GHOSH (Kathak) // Dwandha SUMEET SAGOLSEM (Contemporary) // Dual Currents  SOHINI RAY is the first woman recipient of TAGORE SCHOLARSHIP in all of Manipuri arts (including literature, cinema, theatre, music, dance and visual arts) and only the third recipient.  The following artistes have been selected for TAGORE NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP and SCHOLARSHIP FOR CULTURAL RESEARCH given by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, for 2025-2026. The duration of the Fellowship/Scholarship will be 2 years. FELLOWSHIPS TAPATI CHOWDHURIE (A Research on the contribution of Thankamani Amma, the first student of Mohiniyattam in Kerala Kalamandalam) DR. P. RAMA DEVI (Performance Narratives: The Transition from Vesakathas to Kalapam and Yakshagana alongside classical theatre forms) BHARAT SHARMA (Developing a School of Choreography) SCHOLARSHIPS VV RAMANI (Abhinaya re-imagined) LAXMINARAYAN JENA (Deconstructing Ekaharya Lasyanga: A critical analysis of its components in Kathak as per Shastra, Sampradaya and Shaili) KEERTHY UNNIKRISHNAN (Study of rare temple dance compositions found in Palm Leaf Manuscript preserved at TMSSM Library (1650 -1787))  Chennai Bharata Kalanjali alumni SEETHA SASHIDHARAN and SHAFEEKUDEEN BK (Bharatanatyam) are being honoured with KERALA SANGEETHA NATAKA AKADEMI STATE AWARD for 2025. Other awardees include Chithra Sukumaran (Mohiniattam) and Joy Krishnan (Kerala Natanam). Jan 2026  Ushta-Te Foundation presented BIJOY ANAND SHIVRAM with the MEHER R CONTRACTOR AWARD FOR PERFORMING ARTS on January 18, 2026 at Nowrojee Vakil Hall, Ahmedabad. Says Shivram, “It’s such an honour to be nominated as in the late 80’s, I had the opportunity to work with Meherben…. with shadow puppets in one of my early productions. She was recognised all over the world in the field of Puppetry and was also the President of the World Puppetry Organization.”  Nalanda’s BHARATA MUNI SAMMAN for 2025 was presented to Chitra Visweswaran (dance), Prashant Damle (theatre) and Ravindra Sathe (music) on January 11, 2026 at Nalanda’s Kanaka Sabha, Mumbai.  Nalanda’s KANAKA NARTANA PURASKAR 2025 was presented to Dr. Shailesh Srivastava (folk singer), Dr. Malati Agneswaran (BN), Vijayshree Chaudhary (Kathak) and Dr.Veena Londhe (Sanskrit scholar), Alka Gujar (sitarist), Dr. Ganesh Chandranshive (folk artiste), Jigar Soni and Suhrad Soni (folk dancers) and Narayan Mani (Saraswati veena) on January 11, 2026 at Nalanda’s Kanaka Sabha, Mumbai.  The ABHAI committee honoured gurus Jaya Chandrasekhar, Ambika Buch, Revathy Muthuswamy, Jayashree Narayanan and Samyuktha Varadarajan with the title NATYA KALA SADHAKA on January 4, 2026 at Chennai.  Bharatanatyam dancer URMILA SATYANARAYANA received the NRITYA KALANIDHI award from Madras Music Academy for 2025 on January 3, 2026 in Chennai. MADAMBI SUBRAMANIA NAMBOODIRI received the TTK AWARD for Kathakali music. The book ‘Theyyam: Indian Folk Ritual Theatre’ by KK Gopalakrishnan is the winner of THE BEST PRINTED BOOK OF THE YEAR (ILLUSTRATED) 2025. Prize winners of the Madras Music Academy's 19th Dance Festival 2026. - Bharatanatyam solo (seniors): Best dancer: VAIBHAV AREKAR Outstanding dancer: SHIJITH NAMBIAR & PARVATHY MENON - Sub seniors (first slot) Best dancer: BHAVAJAN KUMAR Outstanding dancer: SHWETA PRACHANDE - Sub seniors (second slot) Best dancer: PARSHWANATH UPADHYE Outstanding dancer: HARINIE JEEVITHA - Juniors Best dancer: PV ADITHYA Outstanding dancer: PRITAM DAS The following artistes received NALANDA NRITYA NIPUNA AWARD for 2026 from Nalanda Nrityakala Mahavidyalaya in the second week of January in Mumbai - Ayana Mukherjee and Vempati Lakshmi Kameswari (Kuchipudi), Disha Desai, Maitreyee Ingle, Tejashree Vaidya Rane and Gauri Jathe (Kathak), Dipjoy Sarkar (Odissi), Preshit Meher (Bharatanatyam), Ratri Manik (Manipuri). Highlights - Yearwise listing |
