April 24: Three persons from the Northeast have been selected for the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi and four others for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for 2015.

Those who have been selected for Sangeet Natak Akademi are Sharodi Saikia (Assam) for Xattriya dance, Gangmei Aluna Kabuini (Manipur) for traditional dance and music and W. Lokendrajit Singh (Manipur) for contemporary/experimental dance.

P. Bilash Singh from Manipur has been selected for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for Manipuri dance. The three others selected for the award are Seujpriya Borthakur (Assam) for Xattriya dance, Shilpika Bordoloi (Assam) for contemporary/experimental dance and Boby Chakraborty (Tripura) for Kuchipudi.

Sharodi Saikia, who grew up in Jorhat district, had learnt Manipuri and Kathak in her formative years, but later found her calling in Xattriya. She has been tirelessly working to propagate the dance form.

Raseswar Saikia Barbayan of Kamalabari Xatra was her guru.

She is the wife of Asam Sahitya Sabha's president Dhruba Jyoti Saikia. Saikia established "Rangayan", an academy of dance, theatre and music in 2003.

She has also set up a performing group, Ranga Mandoli, in 2006. Recently, Saikia retired as a senior executive in the education department of the Assam government.

W. Lokendrajit, who is now the in-charge of the production unit of Jawaharlal Nehru Dance Academy, Imphal, expressed his happiness upon being conferred the award.

So far under his tenure, Lokendrajit has produced six dance performances for the academy.

"I am very happy and grateful to all my gurus and the people of Manipur. It is because of their guidance and love that I am receiving the award," Lokendrajit told The Telegraph. He initially learnt nat sankirtan song and then pung (a form of mridanga). Lokendrajit also produced dance performances for private institutions of Manipur like the Progressive Artistes Laboratory, Tapashya and the like.

Lokendrajit hails from Kwakeithel Mayai Koibi of Imphal West and is a well-known face in and outside the state.

P. Bilash Singh, who has won the Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, is working as an artiste under Lokendrajit at Jawaharlal Nehru Dance Academy.

He performed the role of Dusmanta in the play Sankuntala of the academy.

"He is a good artiste. He is also an expert in thang-ta, a Manipuri traditional martial arts form and a good badminton player," Lokendrajit said.

Bilash Singh, who joined the academy 20 years ago as a casual artiste, is now an important regular artiste of the academy.

He hails from Pishum of Imphal West.

Gangmei Aluna Kabuini is a leading personality among the traditional kabui dance and music circle.

Born at Keishamthong Kabui Khun, a tribal pocket in Imphal, Kabuini retired as the guruhan of Jawaharlal Nehru Dance Academy.

She learnt the kabui dance and music since she was eight.

She first learnt from her late father Gaithorung Kabui, who was a famous artiste during his time. Kabuini also wrote and published a book Kabui Theory and Songs that Jawaharlal Nehru Dance Academy uses as a textbook.