Ileana Citaristi Biography 
Ileana Citaristi is an Indian dancer and choreographer of Italian origin. This acclaimed dancer of Odissi was honored with Padma Shree in 2006 for her overall contributions in this field. She is also an exponent of Mayurbhanj Chhau and holds the title of an acharya of Chhau from the Sangeet Mahavidyalya of Bhubaneswar. In 1995 she received National Film award for best choreographer for the movie, Yugant, a Bengali film directed by Aparna Sen. She has also choreographed songs for Bollywood movies like Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities and Bengali movie, Abar Aranye. The doyen of Odissi, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra is her guru and she wrote the book, The Making of a Guru: Kelucharan Mohapatra, his Life and Times in memory of him. Traditional Martial Practices in Orissa (2012) is her recent published book.
She belongs to Bergamo in Italy born to a politician Severino Citaristi. She reached India to learn Kathakali. Before that she was associated with traditional and experimental theatre in Italy for about 5 years. She reached Kerala to learn Kathakali and started lessons as well. Yet her Kathakali guru, Krishnan Namboodari advised her to go to Orissa to learn Odissi and that’s how she reached Orissa in 1979. She is living in Orissa for the past 35 years and has also taken Doctorate of Philosophy. Citaristi is also an exponent of the Mayurbhanj Chhau, studied under Guru Hari Nayak.
Citaristi studied Odissi under Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and later got associatied with her innovative and experimental works on the art form. She set up her own dancing school in 1994 where she trains numerous children. She founded the Art Vision Academi in 1996.
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Updated: July 08, 2014
