Sanjukta Panigrahi - Training

Training

At the initiative of her mother, she started to learning dance from Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra at age of 4. She was assessed to be the best child artist by the Bisuba Milan consecutively for three years during 1950-53.

In one of her performances as six-year old girl, she refused to leave the stage and continued to perform energetically even after the time was over. Her mother had to shout at and cajole her to stop dancing. At the age of 9, she performed at annual festival of the Children's Little Theatre in Calcutta.

She bagged the first prize in International Children’s Film Festival in 1952. Encouraged by her success, her parents decided to send her for better dance training, to Kalakshetra at Chennai. There she continued her lessons under the guidance of Rukmini Devi Arundale. For the next six years she stayed there, and eventually graduated with a Nrityapraveen diploma in Bharatnatyam with Kathakali as the second subject. After that, she toured many places in India and abroad, as a member of the 'Kalakshetra Ballet Troupe'.

At the age of 14, she returned to Odisha. The state government awarded her a scholarship to learn Kathak from Guru Hazarilal in Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai. However, she left the course and returned to Odisha to concentrate on Odissi.