Sharmila Biswas Biography 
Sharmila Biswas is an exponent of Odissi, a traditional art form of Orissa. She is also known as a choreographer of this art form. She is a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, a proponent of Odissi dance known for the revival of this art form and the first person to get Padma Vibhushan from Odisha. In 1995, she established Odissi Vision and Movement Center in Kolkata, where she is the Artistic Director. She received Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in the year 2012 for her overall contributions to Indian art.
Biswas was born and brought up in Kolkata. She started learning dance at the age of 8. She was initiated to Odissi at the age of 16 and she learnt under Muralidharan Majhi, followed by great Kelucharan Mohapatra. Then she learnt abhinaya from Kalanidhi Narayanan. In 1987 she got married to Swapan Kumar Biswas, a physician specialising in health management. The couple currently lives in Kolkata and has a son Shoumik Biswas. Sharmila has performed in arts festivals conducted at Elephanta, Khajuraho Dance Festival and Konark Dance Festival, in India. She has also performed abroad in countries like UK, US, France, Dubai and Russia.
Apart from traditional Odissi dance, she also performs her experimented and choreographed forms of this art. She has conducted extensive research on the ancient Mahari dance performed by temple dancers of Orissa and experiments with those experiences she learnt through them. In 1995, she established Odissi Vision and Movement Center (OVM) in Kolkata. In 2009, she started Poorva Dhara, an annual festival of traditional dances of East and North East India. She has received ‘best choreography’ award several times. For her dance production, Sampurna based on the devdasis of Puri, she received award from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In 1998, she received Uday Shankar Award for Best Choreography.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 22, 2014
