PUSHPANJALI CULTURAL
ACADEMY

PUSHPANJALI CULTURAL ACADEMY located in Guwahati is a highly regarded institution of classical dance in the North East of India. Its founder Directors are the dynamic Duo of PUSHPA BHUYAN AND NABA KAMAL BHUYAN. Their daughter SANGEETA MEHTA, also a Director in the establishment presently oversees the smooth governance of Pushpanjali by entrusting the reins of the institution to their dedicated disciple ANANYA TALUKDAR LAHKAR who resides in Guwahati and is the current Principal of the Academy.

Pushpa Bhuyan is a celebrated house hold name in Assam besides being an internationally renowned classical danseuse. She is the recipient of the prestigious PADMASHREE Award in the field of art and culture. The Padmashree award is one of the highest national civilian honours bestowed by the Govt. of India. Pushpa Bhuyan received this award from the then President of India Mr. K. R. Narayan in the regal ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan with a distinguished gathering which
included the then Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Vice-Precident, Mr. L.K. Advani, Mr. Jashvant Singh, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Mrs. Maneka Gandhi and the galaxy of stars and stalwarts like ManiRatnam and Zakir Hussain.

Pushpa Bhuyan is the FIRST ASSAMESE CLASSICAL DANSEUSE to receive this prestigious Award in the field of Classical Dance in the year 2002. This Landmark achievement thus paved the way for recognition of SATTRIYA and Assam’s Sattriya Dancers consequently.

Pushpa Bhuyan has also been bestowed with the Life Time Achievement Award by N.E.T.V. in the N.E. T.V. Awards, Shilpi Divas Award, AICA Award (All India Critics Association Award) and most recently the Great Indian Women Achievers award by the prestigious Indian Television Academy. Pushpa Bhuyan has the proud privilege of being one of the first Assamese danseuse who has been invited to perform in USA, Australia and Europe by both Assamese and Non-Assamese organizations.

Her daughter SANGEETA MEHTA who is an accomplished dancer herself has performed across the world. She has won several Laurels and Gold Medal in classical dance from Gauhati University and is the recipient of the Highest National Scholarship given by the H.R.D Ministry for dance. She has also successfully imparted training to several students of various nationalities in the Middle East.

Even though she resides in Delhi ,till date she is actively involved in Pushpanjali,along with her father N.K. Bhuyan and Ananya. Besides asserting proficient management,she spearheads the glittering Pushpanjali Dance Festival every year as well as supervises the Diploma Examinations of the Academy along with the external examiner. Her tireless dedication ensures the legacy of her mother is continued for generations to come.

For more details of her achievements,click on Sangeeta Mehta.

Since its inception, Pushpa Bhuyan has been the original creative force of Pushpanjali and the back bone of the Institution is the unstoppable Mr. Naba Kamal Bhuyan,their three daughters VANITA BHUYAN NAGPAL,SANGEETA BHUYAN MEHTA,RITA BHUYAN RAHEJA and now their committed disciple ANANYA TALUKDAR LAHKAR.

The three daughters besides being trained by their mother Pushpa Bhuyan in the classical dance forms of Bharat Natyam,Kathak,Sattriya,Kuchipudi,Manipuri have also been trained under the tutelage of Guru Adyar K. Lakshman ( Padmashree )in Bharat Natyam,Guru Vishnu Vaishalkar in Kathak,Guru Vempatti Chinna Satyam ( Padmabhushan)in Kuchipudi,Guru Barbayan Tankeshwar Hazarika in Sattriya,Guru Rathindra Nath Sinha in Manipuri and also Bolshoi Ballet in the Russian Cultural Centre in Chennai.

VANITA BHUYAN NAGPAL along with her mother performed in all major cities of India,National television channel of Doordarshan. Recitals in which she performed usually had audiences like dignitaries,Presidents,Prime Ministers, Ministers and other V.I.P.s. She has also performed in foreign shores like America, Europe, Australia and the the Middle East.

She currently resides in Malaysia where she is a philanthropist who is actively involved in social causes with organisations such as Soroptimist which is involved in rescuing women and children from trafficking and abuse,sponsoring education for the girl child ; Voice of Children, which strive to provide identities to refugee children ; Old age homes ; cancer society of Malaysia and is one of the founder members of the first Chinmaya Mission to be established in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Vanita keeps alive her talent by volunteering to teach dance to few children orphanage homes in Malaysia.

She also organises interesting Indian events for ladies,the most popular one being the Diwali Milan in Kuala Lumpur.

Besides being a talented dancer and social worker,she is also a business woman who is actively involved in her husband’s business.

RITA BHUYAN alias SIMRAN RAHEJA (after marriage) is a Gold Medalist in Classical Dance and choreography from Delhi University. She is also a Gold Medalist for Classical Dance in Inter-Varsity competitions held at IIT Kanpur.

She has performed along with her mother and her sisters in all major cities of India,National television channel of Doordarshan. The live recitals had audiences like dignitaries,Presidents , Prime Ministers, Ministers and other V.I.P.s. She has also performed in foreign shores like America, Europe, Australia.

She is now pursuing a career in jewellery designing.

The power house of Pushpaljali, Mr. N.K. Bhuyan along with his second daughter SANGEETA MEHTA AND ANANYA TALUKDAR LAHKAR have magnificently carried the academy to greater heights.

Mr. NABA KAMAL BHUYAN,a prominent Sports personality of Assam has many ‘FIRSTS’ to his credit,the most prominent one being the FIRST ASSAMESE TO PLAY IN THE RANJI TROPHY CRICKET TEAM.

Hailing from a Rai Bahadur family,N.K. Bhuyan was among the first two Assamese to have a Business Administration degree which he attained from Birmingham, United Kingdom.

He has recently written a book on the Democratic Condition of our country titled “ An Immature Democracy Through the eyes of an AAM ADMI”.

ANANYA TALUKDAR LAHKAR is a renowned dancer and much celebrated in Assam. She has given various performances both solo and along with her GURU Pushpa Bhuyan and Sangeeta Mehta. She is heralded as one of the rising stars of Assam. She is also a lawyer and juggles both professions with ease. She has taken Puspanjali Cultural Academy to new levels of soaring creativity as she has very ably carried forward the flag of Pushpanjali and has done her Guru Pushpa Bhuyan Proud.

PUSHPANJALI CULTURAL ACADEMY true to it’s reputation,regularly churns out praiseworthy Dancers with their Annual Diplomas in the 'PUSHPANJALI DANCE FESTIVAL'. A mighty count of students have graduated from Pushpanjali,over the years.

PUSHPANJALI CULTURAL ACADEMY’S DIPLOMAS ARE WELL RECOGNIZED AND ACKNOWLEGED NATIONALLY BY SCHOOLS,COLLEGES AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS .

PUSHPANJALI HAS THROUGH THE YEARS INVITED MEGA STALWARTS AND IMMINENT PERSONALITIES LIKE YAMINI KRISHNAMURTHY,HEMA MALNI,C.K. BALAGOPAL,ABHAYAMBIKA BALAMURULIKRISHNA TO PERFORM IN PUSHPANJALI’S DANCE FESTIVALS AND AS EXTERNAL EXAMINERS AND GUESTS OF HONOURS TO PRESENT THE ACADEMY’S DIPLOMAS TO THE GRADUATING STUDENTS.

Pushpa Bhuyan,a true BEACON OF INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCES was passionate about giving her best services to her homeland of Assam and pledged to make hitherto difficult to access Classical Dances like Bharat Natyam within easy reach of the people of Assam by establishing her dance academy.She knew that there could be many inborn talents like her in Assam who are deprived of an opportunity to become quality classical dancers for want of methodical training. She desired that the youth of Assam be exposed to mainstream Indian Culture by training them in these classical dances,thus propelling the rise of awareness of Indian Performing Arts and enabling the Assamese public to be more learned and culturally inclined toward our Indian Heritage.

Pushpanjali has many specially composed Dance Dramas and Dance items in its repertoire. The USP of Pushpa Bhuyan’s style of execution was that even fairly new students from Pushpanjali with little stage exposure compared to their seniors,were always encouraged by their Guru Pushpa Bhuyan to participate in all their Dance Ballet productions.

It is the policy of Guru Pushpa Bhuyan,Naba Kamal Bhuyan and Pushpanjali Cultural Academy to include and encourage fairly new students to stage exposure so as to build up self confidence among students.

As such she sky rocketed the popularity of Indian Classical Dances in Guwahati and other places in Assam.

This could only be achieved by her dedication to teach and spread the nuances of her craft through her dance academies in the capital as well as different parts of the state. Subsequently ,there are now other Bharat Natyam schools being run by her disciples in various parts of Assam. Since these dance schools opened by her students sprinkled across the state,it only gave the Classical Dance movement a further shot in the arm.

Today, PUSHPANJALI CULTURAL ACADEMY is in its 25th (twenty fifth ) year of glorious existence. More than a thousand students have trained in Pushpanjali.

On a philanthropic note,Pushpanjali has also provided complete free training for the entire duration of their course to keen and talented underprivileged students.

Many from less fortunate families who have graduated from this institution are now teaching Bharat Natyam to students on home to home visits,thus generating income to financially support their parents and families.

Pushpa Bhuyan has actively promoted Cultural exchanges thereby propagating and enhancing National Integration by inviting famous Indian Performing Artistes mentioned above to perform in the Pushpanjali Festivals.

Her most notable achievement is in the up-gradation of Assam's " SATTRIYA" dance from a 'traditional' dance form to the status of 'Classical ' dance.

She and her husband-Naba Kamal Bhuyan took up the noble cause of Upgrading the 500 year old dance form of Sattriya Nritya created by Sri Sri Sankar Dev and thereby propagating it's rightful status as the Eighth Classical Dance of India.

With a singularly focussed zeal,she carried out a research for several years,producing many papers and articles about this dance form.

In this context,Pushpa Bhuyan,Naba Kamal Bhuyan and their research team which included their daughter-Sangeeta Mehta- went deep into the Dance Villages Of Assam called 'Satras' and created a Documentary on the Sattriya Dance which was an Eye-Opener to the rest of India,indeed the World.

Doordarshan had engaged her and her team to produce this Documentary which was much appreciated and created a major stir that was a stepping stone which led to the uprising of the hitherto unknown Sattriya Dance.

Pushpa Bhuyan and her Dance team comprising her 3 daughters and her students exposed the Sattriya Nritya to the world with their performances abroad and in India.

Her performances of Sattriya Dance in the National Programme of Music and Dance,Doordarshan were telecasted many times on National TV in the 1990s.

Pushpa's revived Sattriya Dances at Delhi's packed Kamani auditorium was covered by all the national newspapers.
All these efforts by her made it possible for a large section of dance enthusiasts and critics to bring this dance form under a scanner. It is just a coincidence that she performed the last recital of her life,a Sattriya dance performance,before an august audience of Sangeet Natak academy's governing body members in Guwahati. The same evening Sattriya Dance was declared as the Eighth Classical Dance of India by the Sangeet Natak Academy.

Thus the Sattriya Nritya got it's much deserved facelift and was declared as the 8th Classical Dance of India.

Most of the dance items and Dance Dramas of Pushpanjali Cultural Academy have been originally choreographed by Pushpa Bhuyan and her daughters Sangeeta Bhuyan Mehta, Vanita Bhuyan Nagpal and Rita Bhuyan Raheja. Ananya has also added new compositions to the repertoire of Pushpanjali.

NUPUR CEREMONY ,DIPLOMA PRESENTATION & ARANGETRAM of Gradutating Disciples :- In the presence of Lord Nataraja who is surrounded by offerings of flowers, fruits and incense, the traditional Nupur Ceremony of the Diploma students is usually headed by Sangeeta Mehta on behalf of her mother Padmashree Pushpa Bhuyan and Ananya Talukdar Lahkar. The Nupur of graduating students are always blessed by the esteemed external examiner and Guest of Honour Dr. C.K. Balagopal of Chennai.

The symbolic blessing of the Nupur of bells by the GURU to the SHISHYA literally expresses the approval of the GURU i.e, the SHISHYA is now qualified to ‘live the art' as a full fledged individual dancer. Thus the students seek 'Ashirwad' from the Lord,the GURUs and the Audience.

This ceremony includes the Diploma presentation by the Chief Guest to the successful graduating disciples.

The highlight of this function of the graduating disciples is their ARANGETRAM which they perform with much élan and a sense of fruition.

During the silver Jubilee of Pushpanjali,the institution organized an All Assam Classical Dance competition with Prize money ,which was very well received by the public.

The current administration of the Academy under the directorship of Pushpa Bhuyan,N.K. Bhuyan and Sangeeta Mehta is run by

Ananya Talukdar Lahkar

Jyoti Medhi

Sadhana Lahkar

Biren Lahkar

Pranjit Singh Lahkar

Apsara Talukdar Barman

The present staff members and teachers of Pushpanjali are :-

Darshana Kumari

Shantana Chakraborty

Sushmita Bose

Palashi Kalita

In the past the Academy was ably run by Moonmoon Medhi and Dimple Joshi who are now married and teaching dance in the U.S. and Mumbai respectively.
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