Anindita Nanda
Anindita, a danseuse par excellence, is a rare combination of dancer, classical vocalist, choreographer, teacher, scientist & scholar. She is an accomplished artist of the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra gharana of dancing and is a known name within the Odissi genre. She has a Masters in Indian (Odissi style) Classical Dance from Chandigarh University and Bachelors in Hindustani Classical Vocal from ABGMM, Mumbai, India. She has been learning, performing and teaching Odissi classical dance and Hindustani Vocal and light music, semi-classical, folk and contemporary dances for almost two decadesand in the USA, where she lives at present. Her dance has the excellent blend of sensuous movement, graceful stances and strong defined footwork with absolute control of the rhythm and space. The elaborate choreography’s, fluidity of her movements and intrinsic foot works are trademark of her performances and her creations. She has multiple productions under her belt and has presented Classical Arts not only at national but also at international level.
She is a recipient of several awards and titles like the "Nritya Shree","Nritya Visharad" and "Nritya Praveen" , National Scholarship from Ministry of Cultural Affairs, in India, Orissa Society of America's and Jagannath Society distinguished artists award in the US. She has performed for several Sangeet Natak Academy sponsored events of Govt of India, Konark Festival, the SAARC Nations, the Festival of India in Argentina, Jaganaath Society America, OSA National Conventions, Festival of Arts, Reno, Nevada amongst others. She was the recipient of the "Human Greatness Award" presented by the Mayor of Danbury for her community outreach programs. She was nominated for the New England Women of the Year Award for her involvement and contribution to the South Asian Community in the New England area and the community at large.
She has been felicitated on numerous occasions at the Rotary Convention India and the US and also by Orissa Society of America's. She has been a featured artist for the newspaper "News Times", Danbury Edition, “Tribuna”, “Hartford Magazine”, Danbury Patch and many more. She has been invited as a Judge on the premier dance show on Sony TV called Boogie-Woogie Chalo USA. She has held numerous workshops, lecture demonstrations and charity shows for organizations like, HCC, WHO, City of Hartdford, IAGD(CT), Milan Group(Hartford, CT), P.S. We Care, Children’s First, OSA(USA), BJANA(NJ), AIA(NY), CAPI(CT), GOPIO(CT), IAWCT, TAWCT, TANA, ICDMS(North Carolina), Suny Purchase, West Conn, Norwalk Museum of Arts, Boston Museum of Arts (Boston), Arts Festical (Providence, RI), 100th Year Anniversary, Reno, Nevada to name a few. She is an active member of the Namaskar Foundation for Arts and also the Cultural Chair of the Indian Association of Greater Danbury. She was also featured as a prominent artist on the National Television (DD1) of India and also on the regional television of Odisha,
India. She represented USA in the opening of the Festival of India, Argentina. She toured Germany last year and performed in Stuttgart. She will be opening for the German Film Festival in Fall 2017 and also is scheduled for her Europe dance tour in September 2017.
She is the founder and artistic director of her creative venture, Soortaal, School of Dance and Music located in Danbury CT. Soortaal offers training in the Odissi dance and Indian Classical Vocal.She is a visiting professor of Dance at a performing arts school in La Plata, Argerntina and as well has a school in Nevada, USA. Not only as a performer, teacher and practitioner of the ancient arts, she is an ardent promoter of the arts and has established Natyatarang Festival of Arts (NTFA) at Yale, an annual International Cultural Arts festival to promote the classical arts, which completed its 8th year anniversary in 2016. She is a scientist when she is not dancing.
She is the founder and director of her creative venture, Soortaal, which is a platform to teach and propagate Odissi Classical form of dance and Hindustani or North Indian Classical Vocal to aspiring artists. Through the years Anindita has been actively involved with the cultural scene in the US, trying to not only promote Indian dance and music, but also to preserve the traditional and non-traditional art forms from the South Asia, predominantly India. She has many fusion and contemporary dance productions to her credit. Collaborating with other forms be it Ballet, Flamenco, Modern Creative, Balinese dance or various other dance forms, she has constantly tried to explore and prove the universal language of dance and music, the joy of movements, rhythm and sound.
Anindita, successfully presented and inaugurated the first International Classical Arts Festival, Natya Tarang, in Danbury, CT in 2011 with visiting Classical Artists from India and around the world. This is one of the first of its kind in Danbury, where she lives and got lot of accolades from the community. This is an annual festival which will showcase such artists in the future, to popularize the classical arts. This festival is annual hosted at the Yale University, New Haven CT
Anindita also writes for premier internet magazines and contributes articles for the local newspapers in Danbury, on the subject of dance, music and culture and much more.
Anindita has offered numerous workshops and lecture demonstration in schools, universities and libraries to make Indian classical dance and music accessible at the grass-root level, in the USA trying and building stronger artists for the future. She has sucesssfully established a full time residency program with collaboration with the Marigold Movement Center, Reno, Nevada.