Protima Gauri

Protima Gauri Bedi was an Indian Odissi dancer, teacher and institution-builder best known as the founder of Nrityagram. Born in Delhi, she first worked as a model before encountering an Odissi performance in 1975. She then sought training from Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra in Cuttack and committed herself to the form as a performer.

Her principal dance training was in Odissi under Kelucharan Mohapatra. She subsequently studied abhinaya with Kalanidhi Narayanan, expanding her command of expressive interpretation. Her documented performance practice was Odissi; she performed in India and abroad, including an ICCR-supported United States and Canada tour with an Odissi group in 1997.

On 9 May 1979, she registered the Odissi Dance Centre Trust. Her larger vision was realized as Nrityagram, a residential dance community at Kodihalli near Bengaluru. Government land for the project was approved in November 1987, construction began in 1989, and Nrityagram was inaugurated on 11 May 1990. The institution created a sustained environment for intensive classical-dance training and became her most enduring contribution.

Protima Gauri Bedi withdrew from public performance activity in her final period and died in the Malpa landslide on 18 August 1998 while travelling toward Kailash Mansarovar. Her legacy continues through Nrityagram, its residential training model, its dance ensemble and its outreach work.