ODISSI NATYA SALA®

New Delhi, India | Founded 1999

Odissi Natya Sala (founded by Smt. Anita Babu with Guru Gangadhar Pradhan as co-founder) is a cultural institution dedicated to training, creation, and outreach through Odissi dance, with a strong emphasis on youth engagement and cross-cultural relevance. Under Anita Babu’s leadership, the institution functions as a laboratory for dialogue, where classical technique meets contemporary themes and diverse audiences. The school is co-founded by Anaita’s Guru Late Gurui Gangadhar Pradhan (Padmashree awardee; Central and Odisha State SNA awardee)

The school is empanelled with ICCR, Sangeet Natak Akademi and Ministry of Cuture (Givt. Of India) and regularly engages with unconventional spaces, interdisciplinary collaborators, and socially responsive themes.

Odissi Natya Sala is registered as a Society in Delhi under the Societies Registration Act (XXI) of 1860. Odissi Natya Sala is affiliated to Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh and follows their syllabus.

Pedagogy

Odissi Natya Sala is a space where tradition, discipline, and inner growth come together. Rooted in the classical grammar of Odissi, our training begins with posture, rhythm, alignment, and technique, and gradually unfolds into expression, musicality, and awareness.

We believe dance is more than learning steps. Through consistent practice, students learn to listen—to their bodies, to music, and to themselves. Odissi becomes a way to develop focus, balance, and sensitivity, both on and off the stage.

Teaching follows the Guru–Shishya tradition, where learning happens through patience, repetition, and personal guidance. Each student is supported according to their own pace, encouraging confidence, clarity, and inner strength.

Our aim is not only to train skilled dancers, but to nurture thoughtful human beings—individuals who move through life with awareness, compassion, and harmony. Through Odissi, students discover how movement can become mindfulness, and practice can become a quiet return to self.

Our aim is not only to train skilled dancers, but to nurture thoughtful human beings—individuals who move through life with awareness, compassion, and harmony. Through Odissi, students discover how movement can become mindfulness, and practice can become a quiet return to self.

I am an Odissi dancer — or perhaps more truly, a seeker who listens with the body and speaks through movement.

When I began teaching Odissi,

I taught steps,
I taught rhythm,
I taught discipline.

But over time, this sacred dance revealed itself as my guru. It softened my thoughts, refined my emotions, and quietly led me inward.

What Odissi has offered me — I now offer to others.

For me, teaching is a sacred act. Dance is not the mastery of form alone, nor the perfection of technique. It is a way of remembering who we are beneath the noise.

My purpose is not only to shape dancers, but to nurture human beings — individuals who grow inwardly, who move through life with awareness, compassion, and harmony.

Those who walk this path with me do not leave only with stronger bodies, but with softer hearts and clearer minds. This is a path of inner awakening.

Through Odissi, we learn how to live — how to stay balanced amid the rhythms of daily life, how to turn stress into stillness, anger into awareness and movement into mindfulness.

In each gesture, a prayer.
In each breath, a return.

ANITA BABU – artistic profile

Odissi Artist | Choreographer | Cultural Diplomacy Practitioner

Founder & Artistic Director – Odissi Natya Sala, New Delhi, India

Artistic & Cultural Practice

Anita Babu is an internationally experienced Odissi artist whose work sits at the intersection of classical Indian dance, contemporary social inquiry, and cultural diplomacy. With over three decades as a performer and more than fifteen years as an educator and choreographer, her practice positions Odissi not only as a traditional form, but as a shared movement language capable of dialogue across cultures, generations, and genres.

Trained under the legendary Padmashree Guru Late Gangadhar Pradhan, initially at home and later in Orissa Dance Academy, Bhubaneswar (established by Guru Gangadhar Pradhan), Anita’s grounding in lineage and form enables her to engage confidently with experimentation, exchange, and reinterpretation. Her work prioritizes connection over exhibition (Dance to Express, Not to Impress), using dance as a tool for empathy, conversation, and community-building—values that resonate strongly with global cultural exchange initiatives.

Cultural Leadership & Recognition

Anita Babu’s contributions to the arts and society have been widely recognised for their impact and leadership:

  • REX Karmaveer Maharatna Prerna Award – 2024
  • REX Karmaveer Jyoti Puraskar – 2023
  • Women Leadership Achievement Award (Arts & Culture) – 2016
  • FEMINA Women Super Achievers Award – 2017
  • FSIA – The Real Super Woman Award – 2021
  • REX Karmaveer Global Fellow – Bronze (2015), Silver (2016), Gold Chakra (2019)

These honours acknowledge not only artistic excellence, but also sustained engagement with social awareness, women’s leadership, and cultural outreach.