Smt. Samila Bhattacharya

Samila Bhattacharya began her training in Kathak with Padmashree Smt. Rani Karnaa at a very young age. She holds a Sangeet Prabhakar from Prayag Sangeet Samity, Allahabad. She has completed her Master’s degree in Kathak from Rabindra Bharati University. She got the first-class first position in her bachelor's degree in the same subject. She is a Grade A artist with Doordarshan, Kolkata.

From very early on, her talent for dance has won Samila many accolades, including the prestigious Balashree award in 2005, presented to her by the then President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Other notable recognitions include the Sanjukta Panigrahi Award (2002), the First Prize in Kathak from Aurobindo Bhavan (2001), the State Music Akademi (2005), and the Doverlane Music Conference (2011). She also received the top Shyamanand Jalan Award from Pandit Birju Maharaj at the Kathak Marathaon organized by the Padatik Dance Centre in Delhi (2012).

Samila has several scholarships to her name: the National Junior Scholarship from CCRT, Delhi (2002), the Nehru Scholarship for four years (2004–2007), the Yugal Srimal Scholarship for three years (2004–2006), the NCERT Scholarship (2006), and the Senior Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India (2011). She is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for performing 100 consecutive pirouettes in a minute.

A prominent performer in productions choreographed by her Guru, she has toured across India as a member of Smt. Rani Karnaa’s dance academy, Samskritiki Shreyaskar. She has also presented several solo recitals, the most prestigious among them being at the Rashtrapati Bhavan before the President of India in 2005 and the Ramkrishna Mission (2015). She also performs regularly with the performance company Ranan. She has the credit of participating at some of the major dance festivals in India as a member of Samskritiki Shreyaskar and Ranan. Some of them are: Nishagandhi Festival (Kerala), Konarak Festival (Orissa), Kathak Mahotsav (Delhi), Ananya Dance Festival (Delhi), Sarangdev Smaroh (Maharashtra), Badalraag Festival (Bharat Bhavan) (Bhopal), Khajuraho Dance Festival (Madhya Pradesh), and so on.

Apart from being a consummate performer, Samila also assists in conducting Kathak classes at Samskritiki Shreyaskar. She is an empaneled artist with Spic Macay and conducts many workshops in government schools across India. She has also set up her own dance school, 'Upaj'. She is a faculty member in the Kathak dance department of Bikram Ghosh Academy of Performing Arts. She has also been associated with Nshm College as a Kathak dance trainer since 2018. Presently, she is working as a Kathak dance teacher at the Heritage School in Kolkata.