Carolina Prada is a Colombian national who has avidly explored movement traditions, such as dance and martial arts. She has been living in India and pursuing both Chhau and Odissi since 2008, and Kalaripayattu since 2018. She is one of the only female soloists of this generation to research, choreograph, teach, and perform Mayurbhanj Chhau professionally in both the female and the male style. She has been striving to promote and develop this less known martial dance form from Odisha (Intangible Cultural Heritage), by the hand of her Guru, Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee, Janmejoy Sai Babu.

As a former ICCR scholar, she achieved a 4 year certificate course in Odissi dance, under Smt. Priyambada Pattnaik. Currently she is perfecting her technique and abhinaya by the hand of Smt. Geetanjali Acharya, a direct disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Following the Srijan style of odissi, she has also attended several workshops under the guidance of Sri Ratikant Mohapatra and Smt. Sujata Mohaptra. This study of Indian classical dance has been a years-long passion, driven by her interest in the profound concepts of rasa, bhava, and the fundamentals of dance as a sadhana, and a spiritual path, as stated in the Natyashastra.
Her search for a deeper understanding of Indian martial practices, and the connection between the mind, the body, the subtle body and its life giving energies, led her to take up Kalaripayattu, a martial art from Kerala at Kalarigram, and to be initiated into Sri Vidya Tantra by Sri Lakshmanam Gurukkal. This study has been an essential complement in her process as a conscious movement practitioner and it reflects in her original choreographies and performances.

Carolina has performed extensively in national and international festivals where she has received critical acclaim. Some of them include: Khajuraho Festival, Kala Ghora, Konark festival, Delhi international Arts Festival, Madrid’s Sonika Bollywood, NYC’s Erasing Borders and the Nehru Center in London, to name a few.

In the line of teaching, she has shared her dance knowledge, choreographed and designed syllabus’ in reputed schools in New Delhi. As the pioneer of these two dance forms in her own country, and the first ICCR dance scholar from Colombia, she has opened her own company there, OdissiYaatra, with which she has presented several dance productions, and holds workshops and seminars every year. Her gurus and her dedication have brought out a unique artist in her, placing her among highlighted performers. She is a guest instructor on Satsangam’s Vedic Threads membership-based online course.

This is a moving, short video of Carolinaji

This is a brief video of her kalarigram

And, finally, one more video that relates