At the tender age of 4, the young Shumita Chatterjee was initiated into Bharatanatyam by Late Guru Meenakshi Venkataraman. In the very first few months Meenakshi Maami recognized the potential of the child and took her under her personal tutelage where Shumita gained sound training in the Pandanallur tradition of the art form imbibing the grace and lokadharmi abhinaya, characteristics of the pandanallur style.  After six years of training, Meenakshi Maami had to discontinue the classes due to her failing health and thus Shumita, aged 10, entered the prestigious Aradhana Gurukul and undertook training under Guru Prerana Desai’s disciplined pedagogy.

Shumita learned quickly and within a few years displayed her stronghold over the tala and abhinaya aspects, much beyond her age. She participated in various productions of Aradhana. Her big break came in the year 1989 when at the young age of 15 she was chosen to essay the lead role of Parvati in the dance drama based on Lord Ganesha, staged at the Ganesha Utsav celebrations at Nehru Stadium.  Soon thereafter Shumita also accompanied the senior performing team to Mumbai to perform at the function of Guru Anjani Arunkumar’s book release. From here on there was no looking back. Shumita became a regular and important part of Aradhana’s Performing unit.

After completing her Arangetram in 1990, Shumita established Sadhana Nrityalaya and went in for advanced training under Guru Dr Anjani Arunkumar at Mumbai. She was fortunate to be handpicked to essay the lead in the ballet Mukti-composed by Pt. Vijay Raghava Rao which was staged at Chembur in front of the then Home Minister Hon. LK Advani.

It was while in college that Shumita started choreographing and has the honour of winning the title of Best Performer, three years in a row at the Inter Collegiate Competitions Insynch and all her choreographies for her varsity team (Fergusson College) won trophies. In the year 1995, Shumita got the opportunity to lead a 20-member contingent to Italy for a Festival of India showcase. In 1997 she led the same team for a festival in France.  She also had the rare distinction of performing at the World Science Congress held at University of Pune in 1988.

While Shumita continued training under her Gurus and performing all across the globe she also nurtured the fledgling Sadhana and in 1996 she presented her first full length dance ballet Geet Ramayana, based on GD Madgulkar’s famous Lyrical Opera. The production was a super success and set the foundation for many productions and creations.

Shumita also had the honour of being the performer of Dr Anjani Arunkumar’s dance choreographies of Devanagananritya-Bharatanatyam on Hindustani Music in her Dance videos.

Shumita’s teaching also grew popular and many youngsters benefited from her tutelage. In 2011, Shumita presented her first overseas student Mathri Reddy at her Arangetram at Detroit, USA. In 2015 Shumita’s special disciple Prerana Sahane, a hearing impaired disciple won the National Award.

In 2002, Shumita led her team to Kolkata to perform Bhanushingher Padavali, which won her rave reviews. Shumita has to her credit various productions that have won her much acclaim.

In 2018 Shumita received the Puneri Salaam Award for her contribution to the field of Dance. In 2019 the Jayadeva Rashtriya Sanman was conferred on her by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. She was also awarded the Nrutya Parijat Award by Sri Mariamman Devasthan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2019.

Shumita has tutored the students pursuing MA in dance at Lalit Kala Kendra, Savitribai Phule University of Pune for many years, where she taught Dance criticism. She is a renowned dance critic having worked in leading publication houses and regularly reviewed and critiqued dancers and Dance productions.

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Few Special Moments