Shashadhar Acharya (born 1961) is a Chhau dance exponent from Saraikela, Jharkhand, India. In 2020, he received the Padma Shri honour from the Government of India for his contribution in the field of Arts. [1]
Shashadhar Acharya (born 1961) is a Chhau dance exponent from Saraikela, Jharkhand, India. In 2020, he received the Padma Shri honour from the Government of India for his contribution in the field of Arts. [1]
Acharya is a fifth-generation dancer from his family. He learned Chhau from his father, Lingaraj Acharya, and then from Natshekhar Bana Bihari Pattnaik, Vikram Karmakar, Kedarnath Sahu, and Sudhendranath Singhdeo. In the early 1990s, he left Saraikela to work at the Gurukul Dance Academy and then at the Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai. He is a faculty member at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune and at the National School of Drama, New Delhi. He teaches at the New Delhi–based Triveni Kala Sangam. In 2020, he received the Padma Shri honour for his contribution in the field of Arts. [2] [3] [1]
Seraikela-Kharsawan district or Saraikella and Kharaswan district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state in eastern India. Seraikela town is the district headquarters of Saraikela Kharsawan district. The district is well known for Seraikela Chhau, one of the three distinctive styles of the chhau dance. This district was carved out from West Singhbhum district in 2001. The district was formed from the princely states of Seraikela and Kharaswan, after the independence of India.
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Gopal Prasad Dubey is an Indian classical dancer, known for his expertise in the Indian classical dance form of Chhau. He is considered by many as the leading exponent of the Seraikella variant of the art form. Dubey was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
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Kedar Nath Sahoo was an Indian classical dancer, known as one of the leading exponents of the Seraikella tradition of Chhau dance. He served as the founder director of the Government Chhau Dance Centre of the Government of Jharkhand where he served from 1974 to 1988. During the early stages of his career, he performed with the troupe led by Kumar Bijay Pratap Singh Deo, but later led his own group of dancers for performance in many places in India and abroad including Eastern Europe, South America and Southeast Asia. His students included many notable dancers like Sharon Lowen, Gopal Prasad Dubey and Shashadhar Acharya. He was a recipient of the 1981 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2005, for his contributions to arts. Towards the latter part of his life, his health failed and he died on 8 October 2008 at his home in Kansari tola, aged 88. He was married, and had five sons and four daughters.
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Deshamanya Vajira Chitrasena is a veteran Sri Lankan traditional dancer, choreographer and teacher. Vajira is regarded as Sri Lanka's first prima ballerina. She is the first Sri Lankan woman to practice the traditional Kandyan dance which was traditionally performed only by men. Vajira is credited for creating brand for female style of Kandyan dancing and set the tone for women to become ritual dancers. She was married to Chitrasena who was a well known legendary dancer and dance guru. On 26 January 2020, she along with late professor Indra Dassanayake was conferred with the Padma Shri award which is one of the highest Indian civilian awards coinciding with the 71st Republic Day of India.