Silvana Duarte

🪔 About

Silvana Duarte is a Brazilian professional dancer and teacher specializing in Odissi, an Indian classical dance form. Her extensive training began in the 1980s with classical ballet, modern, and jazz, alongside yoga practices. She made her first trip to India in 1993 and returned in 1995 to immerse herself in Odissi. From 1995 to 1998, she trained at Nrityagram – The Dance Village in Bangalore under gurus Protima Bedi, Ramani Ranjan Jena, and teachers Bijayini Satpathi and Surupa Sen. She continued her studies with Guru Ramani R. Jena at the Triveni Kala Sangam Theater in Delhi in 1998 and has been a disciple of Sharon Lowen since 1999. Duarte also undertook training and choreographic immersion with gurus Aruna Mohanty, Yudistir Nayak, Sujata Mohapatra, and Ratikant Mohapatra between 2011 and 2017. She has also studied Bhakti philosophy and Natya Shastra. Silvana Duarte launched her solo Odissi career in 1998 in Campinas, Brazil. In 2001, she produced and performed “Surya – A Índia em sua Dança Clássica” at the iconic Teatro São Pedro in São Paulo, which subsequently toured various Brazilian cities, Mendoza (Argentina), and Delhi, India. She conceived and produced the solo show “Bhumi – Mãe terra” in 2005, performing it in Brazil, Lima (Peru), and Delhi. In 2006, she presented “Mahadevi Upasana,” choreographed by Guru Sharon Lowen, in Delhi. Duarte is the founder and artistic director of Padmaa – Arte e Cultura in São Paulo, an initiative dedicated to promoting and studying Odissi. She was instrumental in the planning and opening of the Indian Cultural Centre in São Paulo in 2011, where she served as a senior Odissi professor from 2011 to 2020. She has received honors for her contributions as an artist and promoter of Indian culture from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Consulate General and Embassy of India. Awards & Honours: Honors with Distinction, Honors with Distinction.