Manasi Pandya

Born on April 30th 1985 in Baroda- Gujarat, Manasi is one of the youngest performers of Odissi & Bharatanatyam dance styles in India. She has learnt Bharatanatyam for over 15 years from her gurus and parents Shri Sharad Pandya and Smt. Niru Pandya at “Purva school of Bharatanatyam”- Baroda an institute founded by them. She has received her further training in Bharatanatnatyam from the renowned dance teacher Guru Smt. Jaya Chandrashekar- Chennai.
Manasi has received her training in Odissi dance style from Guru Shri Gangadhar Pradhan, Orissa.

Qualifications:
• Diploma in Bharatanatyam from the Faculty of Performing Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University – Baroda.
• ‘Kovida’ [Diploma] in Odissi dance from Nalanda Dance Research Centre - Mumbai.
• ‘Nritya Visharad’ [B.A in Bharatanatyam] with gold medal & distinction & an ‘Alankar’ [M.A in Bharatanatyam]
• ‘Kovida’ [Diploma] in Odissi dance from Nalanda Dance Research Centre - Mumbai.
• ‘Visharad’ in Odissi dance – Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mandal, Bhubaneswar.
• Diploma in French – M.S. University, Baroda
• Graduate in English [Honors] – M.S. University, Baroda.

Languages known:
English, French, Gujarati, Oriya & Hindi.

Major performances:
• Cities in India –
• Gujarat State; Baroda, Surat, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Nadiyad, Kasor, Anand.
• Madhya Pradesh State; Sagor, Bhopal, Jabalpur
• Orissa State; Kakatpur, Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Ummarkott, Nimapara, Nabarangpur, Konark, Bhubaneswar.
• Panjab State; Bathinda.
• West Bengal State; Kolkata
• Uttar Pradesh State; Unnao, Kanpur, Delhi.
• Maharashtra; Mumbai.
• Performances for several institutes in Mauritius:
• The Municipal corporation - Curepipe
• The Hindu girl’s college -Vacoas
• The Tamil League- Port Louis.
• Various performances in Orissa for the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation [OTDC].

Participation in various festivals:
• Nalanda Nrityotsav – Mumbai 2006
• ‘World Performing & Visual Arts Festival’ – Lahore, Pakistan 2005
• Western Railways International Womens day celebrations – Baroda, 2006
• World dance day – Baroda, April 29th 2006
• Cultural exchange programme – Baroda, June 2006
• Indian Institute of Technology conference, IIT – Kanpur, 2005.
• Vibrant Gujarat, International Garba Festival - Baroda.2004
• International AIESEC Seminar - NLDS, New Delhi. 2004
• The Mondei- Nabarangur 2003 & 2004 .
• Lok Mahotsav- Sambalpur 2004.
• N.S.S.-Swami Vivekananda Youth week- Baroda 2004.
• 4th Nritya Mahotsava – Nimapara, 2004
• Fraternity- Baroda 2004.
• The Shishu Mahotsav & Raja Utsav- Konark 2003
• Annual Celebrations of National fertilizer ltd. Bhatinda Punjab 2003.
• Department of French Annual celebration – Baroda 2003
• Kavi Samelan & Chandrabhaga Mahotsav- Orissa 2003
• National women's conference – Jabalpur 2003
• Orissa Mela -Tejas school- Baroda 2002
• Manasi presented her "Manch Pravesh" in Odissi dance style on the 14th of December 2002 at the C.C.Mehta auditorium- Baroda.
• National convention of world class Management- Baroda 1998
• The national festival of Classical Dance Drama- Vadodara 1997.
• The Konark dance & Music festival-Orissa 1997,99,2003.
• Indira Gandhi Centre of Indian Culture- Mauritius 1999.

Awards & felicitations:
• Manasi has been awarded the National scholarship in Bharatanatyam by the Centre of cultural resources & training – New Delhi.
• She has won at the state level dance competitions organized by the Friends society.
• She has won twice at the all India dance competetion organised by the Swara Sadhana Samitee - Mumbai
• Manasi has been felicitated by the Government of Gujarat, on the occation of International Women’s Day in 2005.
• She has been felicitated by the Vishwa Gayatri Mandir, Kasor, where Guru Shri Alakhgiriji Maharaj gave her his kind blessings.
• She has been felicitated by the Western Railways employees union on the International women’s day celebrations held in Baroda in 2006.
• She has been honored as a young talent in Performing arts by the Leo club of Anand.


Workshops & demonstrations:
• Assisted Guru Shri Gangadhar Pradhan in a workshop held at Rajkot in 2003.
• Assisted Guru Shri Sharad Pandya in a workshop held at the Delhi Public School – Kanpur & Baroda in 2004.
• She has given lecture demonstration at Kala Nidhi – Kanpur in 2005.
• Demonstration at an International seminar of AIESEC held in New Delhi in 2005.
• Demonstration at the Tejas School in Baroda in 2002
• Demonstration at the Convent of Jesus & Mary in Baroda in 2001
• Lecture & demonstration on the World dance day in Baroda on April 29th 2006.
• Demonstration in a cultural exchange programme in Baroda, June 2006.
• Lecture & demonstration for ODA – Bhubaneswar, 2004.
• Demonstration at Ramakrishna Mission – Kolkata, 2005.
• Also participated for various demonstrations for Folk dances of Gujarat with Guru Sharad Pandya.


Manasi has recorded performances for;
• E.T.V. Gujarati – ‘Sakhi’
• E.T.V.Oriya – ‘Aaji Ra Naari’ ,
• Also for: Doordarshan, O.T.V.,V.N.M T.V., Mauritius College of Air, P.TV., Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation.
• Recently Manasi’s performance has also been recorded by the Discovery Channel under the programme of the ‘Fantastic festivals of the world’.

Manasi is a member of “Purva performing group” as well as “Konark performing group”. She is a member of World MIFA – Italy & AIESEC France. Currently she is doing her Masters in English literature from Faculty of Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. She is a teacher at ‘Purva’ School of Bharatanatyam, Baroda, Gujarat.



For more on Manasi Pandya, visit her at her website
Or email her at: manasipandya@gmail.com