Monica Singh is a Visharad in Odissi dance from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi and is a senior disciple of Smt. Madhavi Mudgal. Monica trained extensively with her for 15 years and gained immense experience and in depth knowledge about Odissi not just through its traditional form but also by being a part of the choreographic works based on exploring Odissi. Monica was awarded the Sahitya Kala Parishad scholarship for Odissi 1997- 98 and the Ministry of human resource development Scholarship for Odissi 1999-2000. Since 2003 Monica has started SOHAMASMI (centre for performing arts) with two branches in Gurgaon where she concentrates exclusively on training students in Odissi dance.  more Odissi is a classical dance style which traces its origins to the 2nd century BC in the eastern shores of India, now called Orissa. It was performed as a daily ritual by the Maharis (temple dancers) before the images of Gods. Music, literature and grammer was passed from mother to daughter, guru to disciple. It was only after India's independence in 1947 that Odissi as we know it today, came into its own. Odissi consists broadly of the Nritta and Nritya. The former emhasises abstract dance without literary content, and the latter is describing the meaning of the poetry infused with expressions and hand gestures. more