Nrityaalap

Gairika Mathur, a lawyer by profession and dancer by passion, was brought into the beautiful world of dance at a very early age of four through her Guru, Smt. Padmini Chakraborty. This was the phase where she began her formal training of Bharatnatyam for fourteen long years, and later completed her Visharad in Bharatnatyam from prestigious, Bhatkhande University, Lucknow. She has been pursuing her training in Odissi dance form under the guidance of her Guru Smt. Madhulita Mohapatra and has performed in prestigious dance festivals of India like Naada Neerajanam- the Tirupati Temple Festival, Naman, Kapaleeshwar Temple festival and Kalpashree dance festival as well as has given her solo performance in the Waterman’s Theater, London, Preson Hindu Society Festival and Indian League, Blackburn. She has been felicitated with the Nrityashri award and has also been featured in the Indian Talent Magazine in July, 2015 and Priya Lasya, classical dance magazine.

Gairika has also attended workshops conducted by Pandit Birju Maharaj and has been a guest faculty with Natyalaya Institute of Dance, Universal Dance School, Bangalore and has her own dance institute Nritya Arpana, where she trains her students in Bharatnatyam and also blends the western form with classical and brings out a beautiful combination of dance which she terms as “Indian neo classical”.

According to her, whatever she is today is by her Guru’s blessings and love and support of her family. She strongly believes that art should not be restricted to age. Anybody who has the passion and devotion can learn this form of art at any age, and her case is just one of the examples. She believes that dance can be a medium of personality development as well as communication.