Ileana Citaristi is an Italian

Odissi ''Odissi'' (''ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ'') also referred to as ''Orissi'' in old literature, oldest surviving classical dance of India, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temple, temples of Odisha – an eastern ...

and Chhau dancer, and dance instructor based in

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...

, India. She was awarded the 43rd

National Film Awards The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

for

Best Choreography The MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography is a craft award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and choreographer of the music video. From 1984 to 2007, the full name of the award was Best Choreography in a Video. The biggest winner ...

for '' Yugant'' in 1995 and became, in 2006, the first dancer of foreign origin to be conferred the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

for her contributions to Odissi.

Early life

Citaristi, a native of

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, the daughter of Severino Citaristi, a leading

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

of the

Democrazia Cristiana Christian Democracy (, DC) was a Christian democratic political party in Italy. The DC was founded on 15 December 1943 in the Italian Social Republic (Nazi-occupied Italy) as the nominal successor of the Italian People's Party (1919), Italian ...

party of Italy. She spent five years as an actress in traditional and experimental theatre in Italy before deciding to learn Kathakali. She went to

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, where she spent three rigorous months studying

Kathakali ''Kathakali'' (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Kathakaḷi ) is a traditional form of Indian Classical Dance, and one of the most complex forms of Theatre of India, Indian theatre. It is a play of verses. These vers ...

before she went to

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

on the advice of her Kathakali guru, Krishnan Namboodari. Since 1979, she has been living in Odisha. She holds a

Doctorate of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

with a thesis on '

Psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

and Eastern Mythology'.

Dancing career

Ileana Citaristi performing Mayurbhanj Chau style Siba Tandaba

Ileana Citaristi performing Mayurbhanj Chhau

Citaristi studied Odissi under Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and started her own school of dance in 1994. Citaristi is also an exponent of the Mayurbhanj Chhau, which she learnt under the tutelage of Guru Hari Nayak and holds the title of an acharya of Chhau from the Sangeet Mahavidyalya of Bhubaneswar. She founded the Art Vision Academy in 1996, which acts as a platform for sharing ideas between various artistic forms such as theatre, music, dance and painting. The Academi also conducts classes in Odissi and Chhau.

Major productions

Ileana Citaristi is noted for her innovative choreographic productions in Odissi and Chhau that bring together themes and styles from both the West and the East. In Chhau, some of her notable productions are ‘

Echo and Narcissus Echo and Narcissus is a myth from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses (poem), Metamorphoses'', a Roman literature, Roman classical mythology, mythological epic poetry, epic from the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan Age. The introduction of the ...

' based on the Greek myth in

Ovid's Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar in a mythico ...

, ‘The Journey' that draws on Japanese

haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

, ‘Images of Change' based on the Chinese concept of

Yin and Yang Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary an ...

and ‘Still I Rise' based on Maya Angelou's eponymous poem. In Odissi, 'Maya Darpan', '

Mahanadi The Mahanadi River is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam which was the first major multipurpose river valley project after India's independenc ...

: and the river flows', about the history and cultural geography of Orissa, 'Karuna', based on the life of

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...

and Sharanam, a piece on women from three faiths who attain salvation despite their dubious pasts, are some of her notable compositions.

Books and films

Besides Yugantar, a Bengali film directed by

Aparna Sen Aparna Sen (; ) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards East ...

for which she won a

National Film Award The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

in 1996, Citaristi has also choreographed for M. F. Husain's '' Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities'' (2004) and Goutam Ghose's ''

Abar Aranye ''Abar Aranye'' (English title: ''In the Forest ...Again'') (2003) is an Indian Bengali-language drama film directed by Goutam Ghose. Plot The film features the characters from Satyajit Ray's '' Aranyer Din Ratri'', returning to the forest o ...

'' (2003). Citaristi is also the author of three books. In 2001, she published ''The Making of a Guru: Kelucharan Mohapatra, his Life and Times'' in 2012 the ''Traditional Martial Practices in Orissa'' and in 2016 ''My Journey, a Tale of Two Births''.

Awards and honours

Citaristi is a ´Top´ grade artist of

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

. She was conferred the title of ´

Leonide Massine Leonide or Léonide is a masculine given name which may refer to: * Leonide or Leonid of Georgia (1861–1921), Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia * Leonid Berman (1896–1976), Russian Neo-romantic painter and theater and opera designer * Léoni ...

for the art of dance' in 1992. In 1996, she won the

National Film Award for Best Choreography The National Film Award for Best Choreography is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Sil ...

for her work in Aparna Sen's Bengali film '' Yugant'' (1995). She is empanelled as ‘outstanding artist’ in ICCR. She is also a recipient of the ´Raseshwar Award' given by the Sur Singar Sansad, Mumbai. For her contributions to Odissi, she was conferred the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

in 2006. The Italian government made her a member of the

Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity The Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity ( ) was founded as a national order by the first President of the Italian Republic, Enrico De Nicola, in 1947, to recognise civilian and military expatriates or foreigners who made an outstanding co ...

in 2008.

Works

* ''The Making of a Guru: Kelucharan Mohapatra, His Life and Times'', Published by Manohar Pub., 2001. . *Traditional Martial Practices in Odisha, Subhi Publications, New Delhi, 2012 *My Journey, a Tale of Two Births, Manohar Publication , New Delhi, 2016

References

External links

Ileana Citaristi's WebsiteMaana Bhanjan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Citaristi, Ileana Living people Odissi exponents People from Bergamo Artists from Bhubaneswar Dancers from Odisha Women artists from Odisha Women educators from Odisha Chhau exponents Italian female dancers Italian stage actresses Italian emigrants to India Teachers of Indian classical dance Italian choreographers Italian women choreographers Italian expatriates in India Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Year of birth missing (living people) Best Choreography National Film Award winners 20th-century Italian dancers 20th-century Italian women artists 20th-century Italian educators 20th-century Italian women educators 21st-century Italian dancers 21st-century Italian women artists 21st-century Italian educators 21st-century Italian women educators