Mayadhar Raut

Shri Mayadhar Raut was born on 6 July 1930 in Orissa. Joining the Orissa Theatre of Shri Kalicharan Patnaik at the age of nine, he received training in Odissi from Shri Mohan Mahapatra, Yudhishthira Mahapatra, Mohan Sunderdev Goswami, and Guru Pankaj Charan Das. He learnt Kathakali and Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra, Madras. As a Guru as well as a founder member of Jayantika, Shri Mayadhar Raut has contributed much to the preservation and development of Odissi. Mentor to many Odissi dancers, he has enriched the Odissi repertoire with new compositions and choreographed several dance-dramas. He has conducted many seminars and workshops at places within India and abroad including Theatro Tascibille de Bergano, Italy, Chandra Sukhai Dans Akademi, Holland, and SKVR, Rotterdam, Holland. His training in abhinaya is particularly acclaimed.
A senior Guru at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, New Delhi, from 1970 till 1995, Shri Raut has received several awards, including the Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1978, Delhi Sahitya Kala Parishad Award in 1984, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1985, Rajiv Gandhi Samman, Kavi Samrat Upendra Bhanja Award, and the Padma Shri in 2010.
Shri Mayadhar Raut is elected Tagore Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi for his contribution to Indian dance.