Aloka Prava Kanungo

Aloka Prava Kanungo, known professionally as Aloka Kanungo, is an Odissi dancer, choreographer, teacher and scholar born in Cuttack, Odisha, on 1955-11-26. She received her initial Odissi training from Raghunath Dutta, trained at Kala Vikash Kendra in Cuttack with Mayadhar Raut, and later underwent intensive training with Kelucharan Mohapatra. Her artistic grounding is therefore rooted in the modern Odissi tradition shaped by these major gurus.

Kanungo developed as a solo Odissi performer and has appeared at major Indian dance festivals including Khajuraho, Konark, Nishagandhi, Soorya, Mudra, Mukteshwar, Uday Shankar Dance Festival and Kalidasa Samaroh, as well as programmes organized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. Her documented international performance travel includes Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Her contribution extends beyond performance to choreography, pedagogy and research. She has undertaken research on Bandha Nritya and Sabda Nritya, presented papers on Odissi subjects at seminars, and received Junior and Senior Fellowships for dance research from the Ministry of Culture. Her choreographic work includes explorations of Bandha and Sthapatya Satya, alongside group works created for her students.

In 1996, Kanungo established Shinjan Nrityalaya in Kolkata, through which she teaches Odissi and develops repertory work. She remains active as the head of the institution: a Government of India document for the 2025-26 Guru-Shishya Parampara repertory-grant process lists her as guru of Shinjan Nrityalaya, and she was a distinguished guest at Kolkata's Alok Murali Festival on 2026-05-27.