Born on 12 July 1981 in Baripada in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, Shri
Lokanath Das received his initial training in Mayurbhanj Chhau dance
under his grandfather, Ramesh Chandra Das. Later, he joined the
Sangeet Natak Akademi's Project of Support to Chhau dances in
Baripada and specialized in the art form. He also received training
under gurus Shiba Prasad Das, Ganeswar Kuanrbabu, Sundar Mohan
Naik, Srihari Nayak, and Madan Mohan Lenka. Shri Das is also a
recipient of a National Fellowship for his research on Mayurbhanj
Chhau dance from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
Shri Lokanath Das has performed at prestigious dance festivals
including Kargil Utsav, Nritya Pratibha, Chhau Parva and Nritya
Sanrachna organized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi; Ganga Mahotsav
at Varanasi; Shilpagram Mahotsav at Udaipur; Goa Festival at Goa;
National Yuva Utsav at Bhopal, Basant Utsav at Gurgaon. He has also
travelled to several countries for performances such as Bangladesh in
2004, Sri Lanka in 2005, Kazakhstan in 2009 and Ethiopia in 2011. At
present, along with receiving his advanced training in Mayurbhanj
Chhau dance at the Sangeet Natak Akademi's Chhau Project at
Baripada, he is also imparting training in Chhau dance to young
dancers.
Shri Lokanath Das is awarded the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar
of Sangeet Natak Akademi for 2013-2014 for his notable talent in the
field of Chhau dance.