Nilanjana Banerjee

🪔 About

Nilanjana Banerjee is a prominent Odissi dancer, master teacher, mentor, and the artistic director of RDM Studio in California. Born in Kolkata, India, she was initiated into Odissi dance at an early age by the renowned revivalist Guru Mayadhar Raut of Delhi. She holds a Diploma in performing arts and also trained in Bharatanatyam for several years under Guru Smt. Vasanti Subramanium at the Bhatkhande Hindustani Sangeet Mahavidyalaya. After a brief hiatus, her passion for Odissi led her to further training with Guru Smt. Mitra Purkayastha, artistic director of Rhythms of Dance and Music, New Jersey. Banerjee strictly adheres to the gharana of Guru Padmashree Murlidhar Maji and has also trained with choreographer Sukalyan Bhattacharya of Toronto to broaden her understanding of Indian dance styles. She has dedicated nearly 25 years to her Guru's guidance, emphasizing the Guru-Shishya tradition. Nilanjana Banerjee has an extensive performance career, having made her solo debut at an Indian community event in Hartford, Connecticut. She has performed at numerous youth cultural festivals in India and, after relocating to the U.S., has performed widely across New Jersey, Philadelphia, and New York. Her performances include events for organizations such as the Festival of India by CIO, Pragati (Philadelphia), and the North American Bengali Conference (NABC 2005) at Madison Square Garden. She was part of Guru Smt. Mitra's first prize-winning team at the Zalak, 2009 Indian dance festival, Princeton, and performed at the Banga Mela in Atlanta in the same year. Banerjee has performed in over 200 productions across the U.S. and is known for her immersive, interdisciplinary productions that blend dance, music, storytelling, and visual art. As a dedicated educator, Nilanjana Banerjee conducts Odissi classes, initially at the Hindu Samaj temple in Mahwah, New Jersey. She founded and leads RDM Studio, based in Carlsbad, California, where she shares Odissi with students of diverse backgrounds. Her studio offers programs like "Goddess Flow" and "Temple Dancers," the latter providing a hybrid model of onsite and online training. She specializes in teaching adults aged 20-60 and has developed a "Dancers Collective" for intensive training. Banerjee actively works to popularize Odissi in the U.S. through lecture demonstrations and her "Bridging Gap Series," aiming to make the ancient art form accessible to multicultural audiences.