Profile of Odissi Dancer Kavita Dwibedi

Profile of  Odissi Dancer Kavita Dwibedi

Leading Odissi danseuse, Kavita Dwibedi is ebullience personified. She is the founder of Odissi Akademi in Delhi, and over a long and distinguished career, has developed a highly individual style to enrich the Odissi dance form.Daughter and disciple of veteran Odissi maestro, Guru Harekrishna Behera, Kavita was drawn, as though pre-destined, into the profession at the tender age of eight. Over a professional career spanning twenty years, she has proved her mettle with her performances that have been appreciated in national and international festivals in India and abroad.With her graceful movements, supple footwork and expressive eyes, Kavita is indeed one of the Odissi’s finest and most outstanding exponents in India today. Kavita is known for her vision, versatility and superb Abhinaya. Her performances have a pristine and divine quality which leaves audiences mesmerized and elevates them to a higher state of consciousness.She seems to have that alchemy which communicates without emphasis or over-played exuberance --- but with total elegance, subtle eye movements and a sinuous grace that seeps through with an alluring softness verging on the sensuous.

She is a Post Graduate in Sociology from Delhi University and holds Visharad (B.A) in Odissi dance from Gandharva Mahavidyalay. A dancer of vision and versatility, Kavita is known for her superb abhinaya. A widely travelled danseuse, Kavita had a highly successful Indian Council For Cultural Relations (ICCR) sponsored performance tour to the U.K., Italy, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Denmark, Ireland and Norway during the 50th anniversary celebrations of India's independence in 1997.

The artiste has also earned wide acclaim for her performances at some of the world’s highly prestigious platforms in countries like the U.S.A. and Canada and including her presentation at the UN Headquarters at New York . She has also taken part in international events in Spain (1991), China (1994), Japan (1994), Kuwait(1995), Maldives (1995), Kyrgyzstan(1998), Germany (1999) and France (1999).

In her professional career spanning over ten years, Kavita Dwibedi has also had the privilege of presenting Odissi dance recitals in almost all the major dance festivals in the country like the Khajuraho Dance Festival (1996), Konark Music and Dance Festival (1992,1995), Natyanjali Dance Festival(1997), Soorya Dance Festival (1994,1998), Mamallapuram Dance Festival (1994-97), Malabar- Mahotsavam (1996), Tansen Tyagraj Festival (1997), Sidharth Music and Dance Festival (1998) and Puri-Beach Dance Festival (1996). She had also been invited to participate in the festival of Odissi dance Nrutya Parva (1998) to mark the 50 years of Odissi organised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi at Bhubaneswar.

A dancer of deep commitment towards an undiluted and authentic approach to Odissi, Kavita is credited with a number of new choreographies based on traditional chhanda music of Orissa like the much lauded Ritu – Rang (Seasons of Love) and Proshitapatika (Naayika longing for her beloved Naayak). Her other landmarks in choreography are Saptatala Dhyaan, Khajuraho Vaibhav and Jugalbandis with Manipuri, Bharatanatyam and Kathak .

Distinctions and Awards

Junior Fellowship and National Scholarship from the Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resources Development,Government of India.A Visharad in Odissi dance from the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi.She is an A Grade artiste of Delhi Doordarshan.Was featured in the Discovery Channel exclusively in the Living Asia programme as an Indian artiste.Interviewed by CNN, Asianet, China, and the Milan Radio Station.

SINGAR MANI AWARD 1992 (MUMBAI), SANATAN NRITYA PURASKAR 1994, GURU SINGHARI SHYAM SUNDER AWARD 1995, MAHILA PRAGATI AWARD 1996, MAHILA SHIROMANI AWARD 1997, UTKAL PRATIBHA AWARD 1998, INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY AWARD 1999, RASHTRIYA EKTA AWARD 1999, PALLISHRI SAMMAN 2000, MAHARI AWARD 2000 (ORISSA), SPECIAL MILLENIUM TROPHY 2000, INDRANI REHMAN AWARD 2001, PRATIBHA SHREE AWARD 2003 (ORISSA), RAJIV GANDHI SADBHAWANA AWARD 2004, NRITYA SHIROMANI SAMMAN 2007, BHAVISHYAJYOTI AWARD-2007, BARI GAURAV-2008. Kavita Dwibedi is the Founder Director of Odissi Akademi, Delhi.Apart from training young aspirants, Kavita has been organising the Jayadeva Utsava, an annual two-day festival in the capital for the last five years comprising a Seminar and Performances based on the works of Jayadeva. These events have been lauded both by critics and art lovers.