Lokanath Das

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.