UTKAL Nritya-niketan is a premium Odissi Dance Institute in Amravati-Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, established and directed by a Marathi Odissi Exponent Mrs. Sheetal Yaduraj Metkar in the year 2000, and run by a registered institute, ‘KALASHIKHAR FOUNDATION’.
The prime objective is to spread the knowledge, experiences and teachings of Odissi dance and of other classical and fine arts too in future, among the young generation in urban and rural areas and to connect the society closely to the values of classical and fine arts.
Besides imparting training of Odissi Dance, UTKAL focuses on overall development of disciples by organizing various workshops and lectures on other related fields like Make-up art, Odissi Vocal, Odissi Rhythm (knowledge of Tala), Dance photography, scripting and anchoring skills etc, inviting eminent experts in concerned fields.
Besides this, the students get practical experiences of Event Management, through the Monthly Performance series, ‘Dance to the Divine’, in which each episode is managed exclusively by small groups of Utkalites.
KALASHIKHAR FOUNDATION , a parent establishment has developed its own set-up of Classical Dance Costume Production, in order to provide economic and perfect body fit costumes for the performers. UTKAL Nritya-niketan has been recognised and appreciated for its purity of style and techniques by many eminent Gurus and critics at various dance festivals under the consistant and innovative ventures by Sheetal Metkar, the Director.
