Odissi & Sharon Lowen

Sharon Lowen is one of the most popular faces in the sphere of Indian dance Art Forms like Odissi, Manipuri or Chau and is one of the most internationally recognized Indian Arts performer. Trained by well-known Guru’s, she has taken these art forms to greater landscapes and performed in languages like Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil and Oriya.

She has worked relentlessly in popularizing Chau dance in India and abroad presenting it on Doordarshan’ s National Broadcasts and international diaspora’s.

She has broken many barriers. Being the first woman soloist of a previously all-male form was no mean feat in India. She was also responsible for introducing Mayurbhanj Chhau to the United States at the 1978 Asian Dance Festival in Hawaii and later at the Olympic Arts Festival of Masks in Los Angeles.

Sharon has been trained since 1975 in Odissi by the doyen of the art, Padmavibhushan Kelucharan Mohapatra; in Manipuri by Minati Roy from 1969 through 1971 and from 1973 by Guru Singhajit Singh in Delhi and Ranjani Maibi and Thangjam Chaoba Singh in Manipur; in Mayurbhanj Chhau by Late Guru Krishna Chandra Naik and in Seraikella Chhau by Guru Kedarnath Sahoo.

Sharon Lowen was born and brought up in USA and is a Fulbright Scholar with a Bachelors and Master degree in Fine Arts and Humanities, Asian Studies and Dance. However, from the time she has come down to India in 1973, she is more Indian than people born and brought up here.

Details of her performances and achievements are given in her website : www.sharonlowen.com