Gangadhar Pradhan
Encyclopedia
Gangadhar Pradhan was an eminent Odissi
exponent and teacher, who also founded the Odissi Nritya Mandap in Puri
in 1986 and organised several dance festivals in the temple city during his lifetime. Born on July 10, 1948 in a village called Parikula (off Brahmagiri) in eastern India
's Orissa
, he died in the state capital of Bhubaneswar
on October 11, 2010, and had several leading dancer-disciples besides top national and international honours to his credit.
and others.
From 1975, Orissa Dance Academy started functioning, unofficially without registration. There were almost 35 students and classes were held thrice a week. There were special rehearsals for performance of programs. This group participated in some of the most prestigious performances of the state. For space, Guruji requested Mr. B.K. Kanungo, an eminent journalist, through whose intervention classes were shifted to the Sambadika Bhawan, Which belonged to the Journalist Association. His well wishers who provided him with their support and strength were late Guru Pankaj Charan Das, Guru Banamali Moharana. Guru Ghanshyam Panda, Guru Dayanidhi Behera, Late Debaprasad Mohanty, Babakishroe Patthoshi, Kamal Lochan Mohanty, Pradosh Kumar Pattnaik, Gyanadaprasad Mishra, Bhagwan Behera, Dr. Belarani Dutta, and Smt. Manorama Padhi.
The budget was meager. The money earned from programmes and tuition fees was not sufficient enough, to cover the expenses, Guru Gangadhar Pradhan started neglecting his family, his comfort his health. He had just one goal, to establish a dance institution, based on his dream concept.
Mr. Dhiren Pattnaik, then Asst. Secretary of Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi, extended a helping hand, Orissa Dance Academy was formally registered with Mr. Pattnaik as the Director, Mr. Bhabani Biswal as the Secretary, Guru Pradhan as the Principal cum Treasurer and rest of the senior students and musicians as members. In 1978 the golden era of Orissa Dance Academy began with Guru Gangadhar Pradhan , participating in the India Festival held in Germany and Belgium.
Accompanying musician artists were Guru Ghanashyam Panda, Guru Dayanidhi Behera, and Late Debiprasad Mohanty. In 1980 students of the Orissa Dance Academy, Dipti Sahoo, Saratpriya Pattajoshi, Nandita Patnaik and Aruna Mohanty were sent on a cultural delegation by ICCR with Mr. Dhiren Pattnaik as the team manger to Portugal, Spain, Holland and Italy. Accompanying music artists were Guru Bhikari Charanbala, Guru Dayanidhi Behera, Bhagwan Behera and Late Debiprasad Mohany, Guru Pradhan was unable to attend because he was committed to another tour with Smt. Sanjukta Panigrahi for three months for the International School Theatre Anthropology program, to Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Italy. From 79-96 he visited various places all over India and abroad with Padmashree Late Sanjukta Panigrahi. Mrs. Panigrahi always wanted him to accompany her, she said he was an asset to the program. She like his choreography and his teaching and refinement, and recommended him to all. Then Guruji visited other festivals with Sanjukta Panigrahi and his students Nandita Patnaik and Aruna Mohanty, and others festivals like the Khajuraho festival and the Sujya festival in Kerala and many others in the country and abroad. After attending these festivals Guru Pradhan thought, ―Why doesn‘t Orissa have any festivals…‖.
Guru Sri Pradhan has continued to travel abroad through the years visiting places like Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, France, Italy, South America, America, Banglandesh, Israel, Nigeria, Benin, Ivory Coast, Portugal, Spain, Holland, etc. giving workshops, teaching, playing mardala and performing. Though it went smooth sailing for sometime, the Sambadika Bhawan had to be abandoned as the journalist association did not want Orissa Dance Academy in their hall anymore. After Much trouble and after much searching by Guruji on bicycle all over the city finally the Academy was relocated in a rental house in 78, Kharavela Nagar, Bhubaneswar in 1980 with the advance paid for form personal savings and performances. This space was not sufficient and another house was built on an adjoining plot at 64 Kharavela Nagar in 1984. Guruji had to play the multiple roles of teacher, organizer, fundraiser, planner, and musician to keep it all going.
From 1980, beninner classes were started at the Academy, year by year. The teaching assistants at that time were Pagala Swain, Kanduricharan Behera, also Nandita Patnaik and Aruna Mohanty. Two young boys Bichitrananda Swain and Manoranjan Pradhan joined the dance academy. At that time, Nandita Patnaik spent time and effort for the programs for the Academy. It was in 1980 too, that Mr. Eugenio Barba, one of the 5 best theatre directors in the world, and Mrs. Barba visited the Academy, attending the classes for two days. After looking at all that was happening there and all that was happening in other schools as well, he said to Guru Pradhan ―Gangadhar, you have something real here. Your school is never silent.‖ Having congratulated Guru Pradhan‘s sincerely of effort, Mr. Barba became a strong supportive patron. He was also the first to take the Gotipua dance form to Denmark and Italy. 1984 saw the making of a three day festival in Bhubaneswar, the Mukteswar Festival organized by the Government of Orissa. Guruji‘s school, the Orissa Dance Academy was very involved. This festival ran for only one year. In June 1985, the annual Dance Festival organized by the Orissa Dance Academy at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar for 5 days was started. This type of festival was held for the first time in Orissa. It was a struggle for six months to organize this festival. It was the work of many he school students friends circle and in all more than 300 people came together to work to make this happen. Almost all the top gurus and dancers and musicians like Guru Pankaj Charan Das, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Guru Balkrishna Das, Pandit Bhubaneswar Mishra, Guru Arjun Panda, Guru Mahadev Rout, Raghunath Panigrahi, Sanjukta Panigrahi, Guru Gopikishan Behera, Guru Banamali Maharana and many others, composed and performed in addition to all the students of the Academy. It was the first time that a 5 day festival was
held in Orissa. This festival continues to this day, but it isn‘t possible to keep it for five days continuously in one place. Struggle was already in the air. Dissonance within the Orissa Dance Academy and funding were showing wear and tear. Funding needed to be raised. Manpower was also a problem. In 1982 Guruji had organized a cultural evening in Bhubaneswar to raise money, and while it was a success as an evening of culture it did not raise enough money. Yet, financial weakness did not stop Guruji, Working with Sajukta Panigrahi and touring abroad brought some money form which to take loans for other things. Continuing financial weakness, as well as internal disturbances in the Academy caused Guruji much suffering. His blind determination met with resistance and there were some who were not happy for him, and avoided him and slowly separated. Some of his students whom he had put his faith in, also turned away. He started another cultural family called the Adarsh Utkal which brought together many organizations nationally and internationally. From 1980 to now, this small bud of the ODA has blossomed into a flower, enchanting the environment with its fragrance. The Academy is now one of the premier cultural institutions of India. It has about 300 students and a strong performing unit of about 30 competent dancers. The students of this academy, under the able guidance of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, continue to give performances both inside India and abroad. They have traveled to Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Canada, Italy, England, USA, North Korea, South Africa etc.
Currently the student contingent of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan includes many established artist like Kanduricharan Behera, Bichitrananda Swain, Manoranjan Pradhan, Mukti Ghosh, Kasturi Pattanaik, Meera Dash, Ramesh Chandra Jena, Anita Babu, Durga Bor, Bijaya Kumar Dash, Ellora Patnaik (Canada), Debraj Pattnaik (Canada), Bijain Sathpathy, Madhusmita Mohanty, Lingaraj Swain, Sheela Mohapatra, Rojalin Mohapatra, Shagun Bhutain, Judhisthir Nayak, Pabitra Kumar Pradhan, Lipsa Dash, Y.Asha Kumari, Bijay Kumar Sahoo, Longaraj Pradhan, Sridutta Bhol, Amulya Kumar Balabantaray, Leema Bhol, Esha Bandhopadhyay, Suprabha Mishra, Mansi Pandya, Laboni, Shibani and Shalini Pattnaik of USA, Sarba Das of USA, Sonali Mishra of USA, Tanya Raha and Malilni Guha of Canada. Bharati Devi Giri of Holland Alexandria Zardine of France. Sachiko Murakawi and Yumiko Masui of Japan and Yamuna of Sri Lanka and Sryashi Dey USA. Today the ODA acts as an umbrella organization for about 33 other cultural organizations both inside India and abroad. Associated with the Academy are the Chitralekha Dance Academy. Toronto, Canada, Centre for World Music San Diego, USA, and institution in Amsterdam Holland Sangeeta Nritya Academy Assam, Purva-Baroda etc.
Apart from composing new choreographics, dance dramas and ballets in the Odissi style folk dance forms of the region are also composed here. Innumerable performances by the repertoire of the academy has regaled the national and international audience, stretching from remote villages of Orissa to glamorous capital cities of the world. Under the unfaltering courage of Guru Sri Pradhan so far the sanctity & purity of Odissi Has been preserved and perfected in this academy.
In addition to the students he also accompanied with performance Guru Pankaj Charan Das, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Dr. Minati Mishra, Kumkum Mohanty, Menaka Thakkar, Alok Panikar, Sudha Ramesh Bidut Kumari Chaudhury, Snehaprava Samantaray, Sutapa Talukdar, Saran Lowen and many more..
Guru Sri Pradhan has also been working with top music composers for his choreography like Sangeeta Sudhakar Balakrishna Das, Pandit Bhubaneswar Mishra, Guru Kashinath Pujapanda, Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi, Dr. Damodar Hota, Guru Gopalchandra Panda, Guru Harihar Panda, Sri Debkumar Das, Mr. Prafulkar, Mr. Shantanu Mohapatra, Natabr Mishra, Gur Bhikaricharan Bala, Guru Ghanashyam Panda, Sri Dibakar Mohanty, Mihikumar Das, Guru Purushottam Parida, Sri Basantkumar Das, Guru Ramhari Das, Bhubaneswari Mishra, Laxmikant Palit, Ramesh Chandra Das, Bijaya Kumar Jena, Binodkumar Panda, Sumant Mohanty and many others.
in 1998 and the Padma Shri
(Indian's fourth highest civilian award) in 2008.
Odissi
Odissi, also spelled Orissi , is one of the eight classical dance forms of India. It originates from the state of Orissa, in eastern India. It is the oldest surviving dance form of India on the basis of archaeological evidences. The classic treatise of Indian dance, Natya Shastra, refers to it as...
exponent and teacher, who also founded the Odissi Nritya Mandap in Puri
Puri
Puri is district headquarter, a city situated about south of state capital Bhubaneswar, on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian state of Orissa. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the Jagannath Temple . It is a holy city of the Hindus as a part of the Char Dham pilgrimages...
in 1986 and organised several dance festivals in the temple city during his lifetime. Born on July 10, 1948 in a village called Parikula (off Brahmagiri) in eastern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
, he died in the state capital of Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar is the capital of the Indian state of Orissa, officially Odisha. The city has a long history of over 2000 years starting with Chedi dynasty who had Sisupalgarh near present-day Bhubaneswar as their capital...
on October 11, 2010, and had several leading dancer-disciples besides top national and international honours to his credit.
Childhood
Gangadhar was born on July 10, 1948, to a humble farmer couple, Muralidhar Pradhan and Dwitika Devi, of Parikul village off Brahmagiri in Puri district. A bout of initial ill-health prompted Gangadhar's father to vow that if this child survive, he would send the boy to serve their worshiping deity Lord Balukeshwar at Dimirisena for five years. The child, at age five, was sent to serve the Lord Balukeshwar at Dimirisena. After that, for along 10 years, the boy remained in the temple and served Lord Shiva as a devotee. He was trained in the Gotipua form of art that laid a life of rigorous training and exercise under the direct supervision of the gurus. He was a quick learner and reproduced his lessons neatly to the entire satisfaction of his teachers: late gurus Banchanidhi Pradhan, Pandit Chandrasekhar Patnaik, Guru Mahadev Rout and Guru Birabar Sahoo.Further Education
At age 15, when Gotipua finished, members of the large extended family wanted him to return to the family business of agriculture. It was a time of conflict and suffocation for the boy, but he was determined, and his father and mother gave him their blessings to go and seek his fortune with his skills elsewhere Pandit Chandrasekhar Patnaik, landlord of Dimirisena encouraged him to go learn mardal from Guru Singhari Shyamsundar Kar at Puri, while in the course of this training, Guru Singhari Shyamasundar Kar and Guru Mahadev Rout inspired and motivated him to go to college and continue dance training. Thus, in July,1965, the boy arrived in Bhubaneswar and gave a dance interview performing Gotipua pieces, for admission to college on July 10, his 17th birthday. The judges included Late Padmashree Sanjukta Panigrahi and scholar Dhiren Patnaik. They were impressed, and told all the faculty of the promising young boy in whom they saw much future potential and rrecommened him highly. He was given admission into Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Bhubaneswar. He was privileged to learn from Padmashree Guru Pankaj Charan Das, Late Guru Debaprasad Das and Dr. Minati Mishra. He completed the 6 years course and received the Nrutya Acharya. He also began to learn the mardal (Odissi Drum) in college from Late Guru Singhari Shyam Sundar Kar and Guru Banamali Maharana. He studied the mardal for four years. He is none other than Guru Sri Gangadhar Pradhan. His entrance to college was based on sheer determination to succeed and his ever unfailing courage. Life at college was far from being easy. Students never got their stipends regularly and even that was barely enough to cover all expenses. Financial support from family was rated out as most of them were poor and others saw dance and music as a loathsome profession. Thus, they had to both study and earn their keep side by side. The village lad from Parkul, was serious, obedient and hardworking. He was very bright and progressed rapidly. He laboured for hours to make himself prominent among other students. As a third year student, he was already practicing fourth and fifth year items and was selected to perform at all important dance functions at the college, with the inspiration and guidance of Dr. Minati Mishra. She gave him opportunity and blessings and taught him some Bharata Natyam items. He practiced incessantly to achieve perfection in the dance form. His additional talent as a mardal player made his teachers depend on him in absence of an accompanist. Parents of girl students started inviting him to accompany their daughters for practice. Gradually he started teaching students privately. Playing the mardala, he also conducted programs in different places like professional theatre groups, schools, universities, annual functions etc. While he was in the 3rd year, under the guidance of Guru Pankaj Charan Das he got an opportunity to play the mardal for the noted dancer Rita Devi, and with her went to Bombay, Delhi and Pune. From there, he started participating in many programmes. He won 1st prize in the all orissa dance competition held at Puri. Then came opportunities in the form of Oriya film producers, opera proprietors, theatre mangers, who wanted him to direct dance sequences in their plays and films. Completing his Nritya Acharya degree in 1971, he received the National Scholarship from the Government of India from 1971-73. With this scholarship, he undertook three years of advanced training under Padmabibhusan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra in Odissi dance and Mardala for dance. He got extensive theoretica training for dance from Dhirendranath Pattnaik, Guru Sri Pradhan was married to Smt. Sulochana Pradhan in 1972 and began his family and his career.Career
By the time he had graduated from college he had already established himself among the art lovers of Bhubaneswar. He was actively associated with many organizations like Bhubaneswar kalakendra, Sangeeta of Jatni, Chilika Sangeet Parishad in Balugaon, Pranoti Kalamandir at Puri, etc. He directed and choreographed many dance items while directing the annual day events of numerous girls‘ schools boys schools, women‘s colleges, and the state govt. department of theatre group etc. He got involved in Ekamra theatres from the year 1969. It was then that the found a great patron within Kamal Lochan Mohanty of Ekamra theatres. It was here that he composed the choreography of two rassas (stories on the pattern of a dance drama), One was ―Manabhanjana‖ (Basant Raasa) and the other was ―Balyaleela‖ (Child Krishna). In ―Manabhanjana‖, Guru Pradhan played the role of Krishna in many programs.His students also participated, for example, Aruna Mohanty played the character of Lalita, friend of Radha. These theatre pieces ran for hundreds and hundreds of shows. Its popularity led Kamal Lochan Mohanty to think of making ―Manabhanjana‖ into a classical film (the film was called ―Sri Krishna Raasleela‖). Guru Pradhan asked his guru, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra to choreograph the film and was himself the chief assistant choreographer. Most of the roles in the film were played by his students. The film director was Sona Mukherjee.The Dream
After his marriage too, Guru Sri Pradhan never oriented himself in earning money for the better life of his family. The sole dream that he always had was to start a dance school to realize his unique vision. He started thinking about the school in 1970 during his student career. The plan was formed in 1973 and he started an organization called ‗Natyaloka‘ drawing help and inspiration from artist Asim Basu and Pt. Raghunath Panigrahi. Late Smt. Sanjukta Panigrahi, and others was formed. The opening nite performance was performed by Aruna Mohanty, a special private student of guruji, whom he trained daily with time and attention for refinement and perfection from a youn age, and the music accompaniment was made by Guru Ghanashyam Panda on vocals, Guru Dayanidhi Behera on violin, late Debiprasad Mohanty on flute and Guru Charan Mohanty on manjira. The name of Natyaloka was later changed to ‗Sunati‘, because another group was also called natyaloka. The name changed once again to ―Odissi Dance Academy‖. But Guruji was not yet satisfied with it. He wanted a name that would encompass a broader spectrum. Finally in 1975 ‗Orissa Dance Academy‘, the dream concept, the brain child of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan was born. Initially classes were conducted in the verandah of the house of Sri Rajkumar and Manorama Padhi, in the quarters of Sri Rabindranath Pattnaik & in the verandah of the house of Dr. Belarani Dutta. The school brought most of the private students together into the group of the Orissa Dance Academy. Private students before the academy were Alok Mohapatra, Parimita Mohapatra, Sujata Mohapatra, Krushnapriya Pattjoshi, Saratpriya Pattjoshi, Susmita Mitra, Dipti Sahoo, Digbala Sahoo, Aruna Mohanty, Archana Mohanty, Annapurna Panda, Jaba Dey, Ananya Das, et al. Other students were Minakshi Behera, Chapola Mishra, Minasi Dutta, Mamata Naik, Nibedita Patra, Shibani Patnaik, Nandita PatnaikNandita Behera
Nandita Behera is an Odissi dance instructor and founder of Odissi Dance Circle in Cerritos, California. A student of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, Nandita Behera has been teaching Odissi in California for the past twenty years...
and others.
From 1975, Orissa Dance Academy started functioning, unofficially without registration. There were almost 35 students and classes were held thrice a week. There were special rehearsals for performance of programs. This group participated in some of the most prestigious performances of the state. For space, Guruji requested Mr. B.K. Kanungo, an eminent journalist, through whose intervention classes were shifted to the Sambadika Bhawan, Which belonged to the Journalist Association. His well wishers who provided him with their support and strength were late Guru Pankaj Charan Das, Guru Banamali Moharana. Guru Ghanshyam Panda, Guru Dayanidhi Behera, Late Debaprasad Mohanty, Babakishroe Patthoshi, Kamal Lochan Mohanty, Pradosh Kumar Pattnaik, Gyanadaprasad Mishra, Bhagwan Behera, Dr. Belarani Dutta, and Smt. Manorama Padhi.
The budget was meager. The money earned from programmes and tuition fees was not sufficient enough, to cover the expenses, Guru Gangadhar Pradhan started neglecting his family, his comfort his health. He had just one goal, to establish a dance institution, based on his dream concept.
Mr. Dhiren Pattnaik, then Asst. Secretary of Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi, extended a helping hand, Orissa Dance Academy was formally registered with Mr. Pattnaik as the Director, Mr. Bhabani Biswal as the Secretary, Guru Pradhan as the Principal cum Treasurer and rest of the senior students and musicians as members. In 1978 the golden era of Orissa Dance Academy began with Guru Gangadhar Pradhan , participating in the India Festival held in Germany and Belgium.
Accompanying musician artists were Guru Ghanashyam Panda, Guru Dayanidhi Behera, and Late Debiprasad Mohanty. In 1980 students of the Orissa Dance Academy, Dipti Sahoo, Saratpriya Pattajoshi, Nandita Patnaik and Aruna Mohanty were sent on a cultural delegation by ICCR with Mr. Dhiren Pattnaik as the team manger to Portugal, Spain, Holland and Italy. Accompanying music artists were Guru Bhikari Charanbala, Guru Dayanidhi Behera, Bhagwan Behera and Late Debiprasad Mohany, Guru Pradhan was unable to attend because he was committed to another tour with Smt. Sanjukta Panigrahi for three months for the International School Theatre Anthropology program, to Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Italy. From 79-96 he visited various places all over India and abroad with Padmashree Late Sanjukta Panigrahi. Mrs. Panigrahi always wanted him to accompany her, she said he was an asset to the program. She like his choreography and his teaching and refinement, and recommended him to all. Then Guruji visited other festivals with Sanjukta Panigrahi and his students Nandita Patnaik and Aruna Mohanty, and others festivals like the Khajuraho festival and the Sujya festival in Kerala and many others in the country and abroad. After attending these festivals Guru Pradhan thought, ―Why doesn‘t Orissa have any festivals…‖.
Guru Sri Pradhan has continued to travel abroad through the years visiting places like Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, France, Italy, South America, America, Banglandesh, Israel, Nigeria, Benin, Ivory Coast, Portugal, Spain, Holland, etc. giving workshops, teaching, playing mardala and performing. Though it went smooth sailing for sometime, the Sambadika Bhawan had to be abandoned as the journalist association did not want Orissa Dance Academy in their hall anymore. After Much trouble and after much searching by Guruji on bicycle all over the city finally the Academy was relocated in a rental house in 78, Kharavela Nagar, Bhubaneswar in 1980 with the advance paid for form personal savings and performances. This space was not sufficient and another house was built on an adjoining plot at 64 Kharavela Nagar in 1984. Guruji had to play the multiple roles of teacher, organizer, fundraiser, planner, and musician to keep it all going.
From 1980, beninner classes were started at the Academy, year by year. The teaching assistants at that time were Pagala Swain, Kanduricharan Behera, also Nandita Patnaik and Aruna Mohanty. Two young boys Bichitrananda Swain and Manoranjan Pradhan joined the dance academy. At that time, Nandita Patnaik spent time and effort for the programs for the Academy. It was in 1980 too, that Mr. Eugenio Barba, one of the 5 best theatre directors in the world, and Mrs. Barba visited the Academy, attending the classes for two days. After looking at all that was happening there and all that was happening in other schools as well, he said to Guru Pradhan ―Gangadhar, you have something real here. Your school is never silent.‖ Having congratulated Guru Pradhan‘s sincerely of effort, Mr. Barba became a strong supportive patron. He was also the first to take the Gotipua dance form to Denmark and Italy. 1984 saw the making of a three day festival in Bhubaneswar, the Mukteswar Festival organized by the Government of Orissa. Guruji‘s school, the Orissa Dance Academy was very involved. This festival ran for only one year. In June 1985, the annual Dance Festival organized by the Orissa Dance Academy at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar for 5 days was started. This type of festival was held for the first time in Orissa. It was a struggle for six months to organize this festival. It was the work of many he school students friends circle and in all more than 300 people came together to work to make this happen. Almost all the top gurus and dancers and musicians like Guru Pankaj Charan Das, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Guru Balkrishna Das, Pandit Bhubaneswar Mishra, Guru Arjun Panda, Guru Mahadev Rout, Raghunath Panigrahi, Sanjukta Panigrahi, Guru Gopikishan Behera, Guru Banamali Maharana and many others, composed and performed in addition to all the students of the Academy. It was the first time that a 5 day festival was
held in Orissa. This festival continues to this day, but it isn‘t possible to keep it for five days continuously in one place. Struggle was already in the air. Dissonance within the Orissa Dance Academy and funding were showing wear and tear. Funding needed to be raised. Manpower was also a problem. In 1982 Guruji had organized a cultural evening in Bhubaneswar to raise money, and while it was a success as an evening of culture it did not raise enough money. Yet, financial weakness did not stop Guruji, Working with Sajukta Panigrahi and touring abroad brought some money form which to take loans for other things. Continuing financial weakness, as well as internal disturbances in the Academy caused Guruji much suffering. His blind determination met with resistance and there were some who were not happy for him, and avoided him and slowly separated. Some of his students whom he had put his faith in, also turned away. He started another cultural family called the Adarsh Utkal which brought together many organizations nationally and internationally. From 1980 to now, this small bud of the ODA has blossomed into a flower, enchanting the environment with its fragrance. The Academy is now one of the premier cultural institutions of India. It has about 300 students and a strong performing unit of about 30 competent dancers. The students of this academy, under the able guidance of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, continue to give performances both inside India and abroad. They have traveled to Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Canada, Italy, England, USA, North Korea, South Africa etc.
Currently the student contingent of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan includes many established artist like Kanduricharan Behera, Bichitrananda Swain, Manoranjan Pradhan, Mukti Ghosh, Kasturi Pattanaik, Meera Dash, Ramesh Chandra Jena, Anita Babu, Durga Bor, Bijaya Kumar Dash, Ellora Patnaik (Canada), Debraj Pattnaik (Canada), Bijain Sathpathy, Madhusmita Mohanty, Lingaraj Swain, Sheela Mohapatra, Rojalin Mohapatra, Shagun Bhutain, Judhisthir Nayak, Pabitra Kumar Pradhan, Lipsa Dash, Y.Asha Kumari, Bijay Kumar Sahoo, Longaraj Pradhan, Sridutta Bhol, Amulya Kumar Balabantaray, Leema Bhol, Esha Bandhopadhyay, Suprabha Mishra, Mansi Pandya, Laboni, Shibani and Shalini Pattnaik of USA, Sarba Das of USA, Sonali Mishra of USA, Tanya Raha and Malilni Guha of Canada. Bharati Devi Giri of Holland Alexandria Zardine of France. Sachiko Murakawi and Yumiko Masui of Japan and Yamuna of Sri Lanka and Sryashi Dey USA. Today the ODA acts as an umbrella organization for about 33 other cultural organizations both inside India and abroad. Associated with the Academy are the Chitralekha Dance Academy. Toronto, Canada, Centre for World Music San Diego, USA, and institution in Amsterdam Holland Sangeeta Nritya Academy Assam, Purva-Baroda etc.
Apart from composing new choreographics, dance dramas and ballets in the Odissi style folk dance forms of the region are also composed here. Innumerable performances by the repertoire of the academy has regaled the national and international audience, stretching from remote villages of Orissa to glamorous capital cities of the world. Under the unfaltering courage of Guru Sri Pradhan so far the sanctity & purity of Odissi Has been preserved and perfected in this academy.
In addition to the students he also accompanied with performance Guru Pankaj Charan Das, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Dr. Minati Mishra, Kumkum Mohanty, Menaka Thakkar, Alok Panikar, Sudha Ramesh Bidut Kumari Chaudhury, Snehaprava Samantaray, Sutapa Talukdar, Saran Lowen and many more..
Guru Sri Pradhan has also been working with top music composers for his choreography like Sangeeta Sudhakar Balakrishna Das, Pandit Bhubaneswar Mishra, Guru Kashinath Pujapanda, Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi, Dr. Damodar Hota, Guru Gopalchandra Panda, Guru Harihar Panda, Sri Debkumar Das, Mr. Prafulkar, Mr. Shantanu Mohapatra, Natabr Mishra, Gur Bhikaricharan Bala, Guru Ghanashyam Panda, Sri Dibakar Mohanty, Mihikumar Das, Guru Purushottam Parida, Sri Basantkumar Das, Guru Ramhari Das, Bhubaneswari Mishra, Laxmikant Palit, Ramesh Chandra Das, Bijaya Kumar Jena, Binodkumar Panda, Sumant Mohanty and many others.
Awards And Honours
He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi AwardSangeet Natak Akademi Award
Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. The award consists since 2003 of Rs. 50,000, a citation, an angavastram , and a tamrapatra...
in 1998 and the Padma Shri
Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
(Indian's fourth highest civilian award) in 2008.