July 2026
ANITA SAYS.....
NOTES FOR RADICAL LIVING
Make friends with chaos
Hold a calm mind
Let things shake
Forgive human frailty
Champion second chances
Defy unkindness
Listen to the quiet
Respect the young
Look beyond the binary
Be electric
Sing into pain
Find joy in shadow
Dance daily
From Instagram @onassis.stegi
I write this month's thoughts from the cool of the mountains. Watching
the mist shifting shapes and sipping a cup of Nilgiris tea. Taking long
walks in silence and reading. Writing a script for a new work and
recalibrating for the months ahead.
It is that time of the year when sporting events abound. Amidst the
summer outdoor dance and music festivals, my eyes turn to tennis (what
else!) and the surprise that unfolded on the clay courts of Paris.
Even though the sport has moved onto the Wimbledon grass, I want to
bring your attention to a surprising event that took place just before
the women's and the men' singles final matches.
Read more
or
Use the audio control (at the top of the page in the website) to listen to the editorial
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AWARDS
Sangeet Natak Akademi
awardees for dance for 2024 and 2025. The honour of Akademi Fellow
carries a purse money of Rs. 3,00,000 while the Akademi Award carries a
purse money of Rs. 1,00,000 besides a Tamrapatra and Angavastram.
LIST OF AKADEMI FELLOWS (AKADEMI RATNA)
Ramlal Bareth, A V Anand, Rita Ganguly, Puru Dadheech, Chittaranjan Jyotishi, Pasumarthi Rattaiah Sarma, Sudharani Raghupathy
SANGEET NATAK AKADEMI AWARDS (AKADEMI PURASKAR) for 2024
Rajeswari Sainath (Bharatanatyam), Bipul Chandra Das (Kathak), Rajkumari
Thambalsana Devi (Manipuri), Veena Murthy Vijay (Kuchipudi),
Bichitrananda Swain (Odissi), Prema Ozah Borbayan (Sattriya), Sreedevi
Rajan (Mohiniattam), Nripen Sahis (Chhau), Shashidharan Nair (Creative
and Experimental), Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan (Music for Dance-
Kathakali), Surya Narayana Kumara (Music for Dance - Kuchipudi),
Keremane Shivananda Hegde (Other major traditions of Dance and Dance
Theatre - Yakshagana)
FIELD OF ACTIVITY: OVERALL AND OTHERS (for 2024)
T S Sathyavathi (Overall contribution in Music), Voleti Rangamani
(Overall contribution in Dance), Shubhada Varadkar (Scholarship in
Performing Arts - Dance), Tapati Chowdhurie (Art Critique - Performing
Arts), Sunanda Nair (Overseas - Dance - Mohiniattam)
SANGEET NATAK AKADEMI AWARDS (AKADEMI PURASKAR) for 2025
Roja Kanan (Bharatanatyam), Krishan Mohan Mishra (Maharaj) & Vaswati
Mishra & Ram Mohan Maharaj (Trio, Kathak), Kalamandalam
Krishnakumar (Kathakali), Irengbam Nalini Devi (Manipuri), P. Nagajothy
& Seetha Nagajothy (Joint, Kuchipudi), Ileana Citaristi (Odissi),
Mallika Kandali (Sattriya), Girija Chandran (Mohiniattam), Pagulu Jena
(Chhau-Mayurbhanj), K Hariprasad (Music for Dance - Bharatanatyam),
Bhaskar Jyoti Ojah (Music for Dance - Sattriya), S. Kumar (Other major
tradition of Dance Theatre - Bhagavathamela), Usha Nangiar (Major
tradition of Theatre- Nangiarkoothu)
FIELD OF ACTIVITY: OVERALL AND OTHERS (for 2025)
Shiv Narayan Jha (Kunal - Overall contribution in Theatre), Maneesha
Sathe (Overall contribution in Dance - Kathak), Rakesh Sinha (Overall
contribution - Art Photography), Manjari Sinha (Art Critique, Performing Arts), TS Nandakumar (Overseas - Music - Mridangam)
Kathak Guru Shila Mehta received Mitrahs NATYASHREE AWARD 2026 on June 20, 2026, at the Brearley Theater, Kenilworth, New Jersey.
On July 4, 2026 at the 37th annual day celebrations of ABHAI in Chennai, the following awards will be presented.
NATYA KALANIDHI: S Kanaka, PRAVASI NATYA KALANIDHI: Ramya Harishankar, NRITYA PERUNJOTHI: Bragha Bessell, SANGEETA NRITYA NIPUNA: Dr Gayathri Kannan, GANDHARVA NIPUNA: Neela Sukanya, NARTAKA NIPUNA: KB Madhusudanan, NAATAR KALAI VITHAGAR: Palani Murugan, YUVA NRITYA SADHAKA: Ramia Vedagiri
Sangeet Natak Akademi's Yuva Puraskar for dance for 2024 and 2025. The
Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar carries a purse money of Rs. 25,000
besides a Tamrapatra and an Angavastram.
USTAD BISMILLAH KHAN YUVA PURASKAR - 2024
Rahul Dev Mondal (Bharatanatyam), Namrata Rai (Kathak), Kottakal Pradeep
(Kathakali), Phuritshabam Debajani Devi (Manipuri), Ajay Srinivas
Chakravarthy
(Kuchipudi), Gaurishankar Dash (Odissi), Meenakshi Medhi (Sattriya),
Gopika G Nath (Mohiniattam), Kuna Samal (Chhau- Seraikella), Lalit
Khatana (Creative and Experimental), Lukram Tamphamani Singh (Music for
Dance - Manipuri), Debiprasad Mishra (Allied Theatre Arts -Lighting)
OVERALL CONTRIBUTION / SCHOLARSHIP IN PERFORMING ARTS - 2024
Amit Khinchi (Kathak), Shilpa Nanjappa (Bharatanatyam)
USTAD BISMILLAH KHAN YUVA PURASKAR - 2025
V T Satchidanandan (Bharatanatyam), Devika Devendra S Mangalamukhi
(Kathak), Kalamandalam Neeraj (Kathakali), Tongbram Roneld Meitei
(Manipuri),
Vedantam Siddhendra Varaprasad (Kuchipudi), Namrata Mehta (Odissi),
Niranjan Saikia Barbayan (Sattriya), Aswathi Sankarlal (Mohiniattam),
Subhashree Swain (Chhau - Mayurbhanj), Satwika Penna (Other major
traditions of Dance & Dance Theatre - Andhranatyam), Pavani
Pasumarthi (Music for dance)
OVERALL CONTRIBUTION / SCHOLARSHIP IN PERFORMING ARTS - 2025
Himanshu Darmora (Music), Sayak Mitra and Akash Mallick (Joint - Theatre)
'In recognition of his unparalleled contribution towards promoting Bharatanatyam on a global scale,' JAI GOVINDA received the NAAD YOGI AWARD from the hands of NDP minister, Mr. Jagrup Barr, at a special event presented by the NAAD Arts Centre on May 16, 2026 in Vancouver, BC.
  Geeta Chandran and Sharon Lowen will receive the YADADRI NATIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARD on July 25, 2026 at Hyderabad during the Yadadri National Dance Festival by Kalakrithi Nrithyalaya.
 Krishna Gana Sabha confers NRITYA CHOODAMANI award on Indira Kadambi for 2026 in December. |
ATMA SHANTI
Kathak guru PRATAP PAWAR (20 May 1942 - 23 June 2026) passed
away in London. Born in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, he was the first
disciple of Pandit Birju Maharaj, receiving traditional training in the
'ganda-bandh' (formal initiation) style. Pawar's career spans over six
decades and four continents. He was sponsored by the Indian Ministry of
External Affairs to promote Indian dance in Guyana and Trinidad for
eight years. In 1981, he settled in London and became the first
full-time Kathak teacher at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He founded the
Triveni Dance Company in 1984. Pawar is renowned for blending
traditional Kathak with other dance forms, such as Flamenco and
Afro-Caribbean styles. He was honored with the Padma Shri, one of
India's highest civilian awards, in 2008. He was awarded MBE, 'Member of
the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire' in the Queen's New
Year's honour list for 2019.
He has several firsts to his credit: He was the first 'ganda bandh'
disciple of Birju Maharaj, first dancer to have major roles in
productions of Kathak Kendra from 1965-1972. He was the first dancer
chosen to teach and propagate Kathak abroad by ICCR in 1972, first to
perform in South America, first to start full time Kathak training at
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan commencing from 1980, first to develop concept of
'East meets West' in field of dance in 1982 in the UK, Caribbean and
USA, first to choreograph dance-dramas in UK and the West Indies using
local talents. He was one of the few artistes to receive the MBE.
'My Journey in Dance: Guru Pratap Pawar' is his biography by Ashish Khokar.
SHARADA MOORTHY SRIPADAM, 60, of San Jose died on June 12,
2026, after bravely battling cancer. She was a student of Guru Adyar
Lakshman. Sharada attended NIT Trichy to receive a BE in Electronics and
Communication Engineering in 1987, followed by an MS in Electrical
Engineering from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She was a
respected and beloved leader and colleague throughout her career at
Cisco Systems, Inforel Technologies, LinkedIn, and Atlassian. She was a
brilliant engineer, gifted and talented Bharatanatyam dancer, and an
ardent marathon runner.
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