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Guru Surendra Nath Jena received the Sangeet
Natak Akademy Award in 2007 from the President of India at a ceremony in Kamani
Auditorium, New Delhi, India, and
Guru S.N. Jena was born in Uchapur, Orissa, India (a village near the city of Bhadrak), and was one of the few “old masters” among a handful of proponents who first began the teaching of Odissi Dance as a performing art. Odissi Dance emerged from a centuries old tradition of temple dancers, consecrated to the Hindu Gods and Goddesses as devoted servants, rarely seen by the world outside the temple walls. He was a member of a traveling theatre group known as a “Jatra Party ” from the age of 12. He learned, taught, and began to compose in the classical dance form native to his home state. Odissi Dance had much in common with the dramatic enactment of tales from Hindu literature as carried to the villagers in Jatra theatre.
Now he is remembered as one of the foremost
His son Nirmal teaches in Sydney, Australia (see his website:
http://odcdance.tripod.com
). Guruji's
daughter Rekha Jena Pradhan (right), is teaching in Rajasthan, and Rama Jena
(below, left), his youngest, is an excellent singer as well as Odissi Dancer,
in Bhubaneswar, Orissa.
Please visit Guruji's site: www.surendranathjenaodissi.com. Dance Photos by: Avinash Pasricha
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passed
away in October of the same year. We are so glad that his lifetime achievement
was recognized by this highest honor for artists in India before he left this
world! 
exponents of Classical Indian Dance, Odissi Style, and his three daughters and
one son have followed in his footsteps to carry on the tradition. His eldest
daughter, 
They have formed the Guru Surendra Nath Jena Trust which gives awards to lesser known
upcoming Odissi Dancers each year. Seen below at their first award
ceremony, Smt. Kumudini Jena, their mother, is presented flowers.
