Mahua Mukherjee is an exponent of the Indian classical dance form

Gaudiya Nritya Gaudiya Nritya ( bn, গৌড়ীয় নৃত্য, IAST: Gaur̤īẏa Nṛtya) or ''Gôur̤īyo Nrityô'', is a Bengali dance tradition.Roma Chatterji (2005)Folklore and the Construction of National Tradition ''Indian Folklife'' 19 (Fol ...

. She is a researcher and teacher at

Rabindra Bharati University Rabindra Bharati University is a public research university in Kolkata, India. It was founded on May 8, 1962, under the Rabindra Bharati Act of the Government of West Bengal in 1961, to mark the birth centenary of the poet Rabindranath Tagore. ...

and Dean of the faculty of fine arts . Along with her husband Amitava Mukherjee, she has been reviving the dance style through her career from 1980s. She has also given performances and lectures as visiting professor like at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

, USA. She has learned the dance from Bratindranath, Sashi Mahato, Narottam Sanyal, Gambhir Singh Mudha, Mukund Das Bhattacharya and other practitioners of the Chhau, Nachni, Kushan and Kirtaniya traditions. Mukherjee is also the director of institutes Gaudiya Nritya Bharati and Mitrayan. She is M.Sc., Ph.D. in Botany. She had initially also taken training in

Bharata Natyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...

. She is considered as the "fountainhead" of the dance. She has also been subject of a poem written by Nigerian writer

Tanure Ojaide Tanure Ojaide (born 1948) is a Nigerian poet and academic. As a writer, he is noted for his unique stylistic vision and for his intense criticism of imperialism, religion, and other issues. He is regarded as a socio-political and an ecocentric poe ...

published in her collection "The Beauty I Have Seen: A Trilogy". She also features in the documentary film ''Geetmay Tanmay - Trance in Motion'' made by the

Films Division of India The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcastin ...

Books

She wrote a book on Bengal Classical Dance, Gaudiya Nritya. It was published from The Asiatic Society, Kolkata.

Notes

Mukherjee is also credited as Mukhopadhyay. For further reading refer etymology of the surname.

References

Indian women choreographers Indian choreographers Indian female classical dancers Performers of Indian classical dance Living people Rabindra Bharati University faculty Year of birth missing (living people) {{india-bio-stub