Rajesh Sai Babu

Rajesh Sai Babu, (born 1 March 1984) is an Indian dancer and choreographer, specializing in Mayurbhanj Chhau dance UNESCO's heritage. He is descended from Mayurbhanj Chhau performers, the grandson of "Sangeet Natak Akademi Award GURU Ananta Charan Sai Babu" son of Mayurbhanj Chhau Guru Janmejoy Sai Babu.^[1] He is known also as a choreographer and dancer of Bollywood, modern dance,Indian folk dance (garba, kalbelia, dandia) y contemporany dance. With his father Guru Janmejoy Sai Babu and his brother Rakesh Sai Babu run his 'Gurukul Chhau Dance Sangam' dance company in Delhi, holds dance workshops both in India and abroad.^[2] He teach Bollywood actors like, Shawar Ali(2014) Hari Narayan (2012), Isha Sharvani (2009) and has choreographed apart from musicals, stage shows, music videos and national and international dance festivals and TV competitions as "Dance Bangla Dance". Now he is on mission to restore Chhau dance of Mayurbhanj and spread it in India and at all the world.^[3]

Early life and training

Born and raised in Delhi in a family of traditional Chhau dancers of guru Janmejoy Sai Babu and Minati Sai Babu. Rajesh is the oldest of two brothers. He studied and started dancing and trained in classical dance Bharatanatyam under guru Jyotsna Shourie, in ballet under Fernando Aguilera, contemporary dance, creative dance under Gilles Chuyen and jazz dance under Ashley Loobo

Career

He is a choreographer in musicals, stage shows like in Tarun Tahiliani Fashion Show.^[4] Rajesh was awarded best choreography and best dance of the day in Dance Bangla Dance - ZEE TV (2013),^[5] India's got talent (runner up) Colour Chanel TV (2013), Enertaintment "Ke liye kuch bhi karega" for Sony chhanel best mayurbhanj chhau dancers (2014)^[6]

Notable Performances

2000 - 2013

Glasgow Mela O2 Festival ( Bollywood and Chhau dance 2010, 2014 )
Cultural Exchange Program Sri Lanka ( Bollywood and Chhau dance)
Tata Food Festival South Africa concert of Bollywood - Johanesburg
Intercultural Festival Malaysia ( Bollywood )
India, India Festival in Zurich Switzerland 2009
India Inter. Festival Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kalinigrad Russia
Bollywood Traum Festival (Team work Production) Germany
Shanghai Expo 2010 in front of China president – China
IBEF Festival 2010 (Durban, Johannesburg) – South Africa,
Celebrating 6 Diplomatic Relation (Srikandi) 2011_ Jakarta
Chhau Dance Workshop – Jogjakarta and Jakarta, Indonesia ( 2009, 2011)
Chhau Dance Workshop – Johannesburg, South Africa (2010)
Chhau Presentation at Honkong under (Frank Muller) 2008.
Switzerland and Austria 2008
Festival of India Presenting “Shikhandini- an Indian-Indonesian dance drama Production” at ( Jakarta, Bali, Jogjakarta, Lombok) 2009 – Indonesia
Ektara Phatshala Dance Production ( 2012) _ Sri Lanka
Khalagooda Festival
Khajhoo Rahoo Festival

2014

1. JANUARY - Attended to Zee Dance Bangla Dance TV show
2. February -Attended to 7th Delhi International Arts Festival (DIAF) ( Mayurbhanj Chhau dance)(INDIA)
3. February- Festival Vijayawada (Mayurbhanj Chhau dance) (INDIA)
4. February- Attended to Khajuraho Dance Festival (chhau dance and kathak) (India)
5.March - Attended to 16th National Festival of Creative Arts to present Ektara Pathshala (School Of Bauls)- Dance choreography recreating the Sufi philosophy,its based on Robindra Nath Tagore Ji poet in Kathak-Chhau form directed by Maitreyee Pahari (India)
6.April - present Chhau dance performance on SwaR-Rajya Delhi Folk Dance Festival (India)
7.April - Barcelona festival 2014 show and workshops of Ancient Indian Tribal Art Form and Chhau Dance (Spain)
8. MAY - GLASGOW MELA workshops in Glasgow, EDINBURGH (UK)
9.JUNY - performance on MELA GLASGOW 2014 (UK)
10.September - Show “Shunyala” – under guidance SHOVANA NARAYAN (PADAMSHRI AND SNA AWARDEE) (India)
11. December- Show “MAYA” new choreography of Maietreyee Pahari based on Kathak and Mayurbhanj Chhau, as part of our 25 years celebration (India)

References