Alpana Nayak

She is born and brought up at Balasore, Odisha. Alpana Nayak began her training in Odissi at the age of seven at the Nrutya Sangeeta Kala Mandira, Balasore under Late Guru Deva Prasad Das and Guru Sudhakar Sahoo. She gained her ‘Nritya Shree’ degree at the tender age of thirteen and ‘Nritya Visharad’ at nineteen. She has enriched her Odissi style under Guru Hare Krishna Behera. Alpana has performed Odissi Dance Solo in almost all major cities and cultural festivals of India and abroad. She performed in presence of the President of India in the Rashtrapati Bhawan as a special invitee in April 2006. Alpana has MA in Economics, B.Ed. and Diploma in Computers. She is A graded artist of Doordarshan Kendra Central Unit. Along with her performing career, Alpana is also a dedicated teacher. She has taught Odissi and different Indian folk dances in several cities of India, England and Japan. Her Odissi dance disciples include children with disability. She has been conferred with the title of Guru Samrat by SWID, Bangla Desh. Alpana Nayak is among the very few exponents of Odissi dance who train children with disability (physically and mentally challenged) in Indian classical and folk dance forms for their holistic development. Alpana has contributed to promoting Indian culture in India and abroad by conceiving, developing and presenting new compositions in Odissi style such as VICHITRA VARNA – six facets of womanhood; PANCHA NAYIKA of Kavi Samrat Upendra Bhanja, the great Oriya Poet of sixteenth century; BUDDHA DEVA – the preacher of non-violence and GANGA AVATAR – the descent of the sacred river Ganga from the Heaven on this Earth.