Born and brought up in Balasore, Orissa, Alpana Nayak began her training in Odissi in 1970, at the age of seven at the Nrutya Sangeeta Kala Mandira, Balasore under Born and brought up in Balasore, Orissa, Alpana Nayak began her training in Odissi in 1970, at the age of seven at the Nrutya Sangeeta Kala Mandira, Balasore under Late Guru Deva Prasad Das and Guru Sudhakar Sahoo. She gained her ‘Nritya Shree’ degree at the tender age of thirteen and ‘Nritya Visharad’ at nineteen. She has enriched her Odissi style under Guru Hare Krishna Behera.

Alpana has performed Odissi Dance Solo in almost all major cities and cultural festivals of India, England, Japan and Bangladesh.

She performed in front of the President of India in the Rashtrapati Bhawan as a special invitee in April 2006.

Along with her performing career Alpana is also a dedicated teacher. She has taught Odissi and different Indian folk dances in several cities of India, England and Japan. Her Odissi dance disciples include both normal as well as specially gifted children.

Alpana Nayak is among the very few exponents of Odissi dance who train specially gifted children (physically and mentally challenged) in Indian classical and folk dance forms for their holistic development in the society.

Alpana has contributed immensely to promote Indian culture in India and abroad by conceiving, developing and presenting new compositions in Odissi style such as VICHITRA VARNA – six facets of womanhood; PANCHA NAYIKA of Kavi Samrat Upendra Bhanja, the great Oriya Poet of sixteenth century; BUDDHA DEVA – the preacher of non-violence and GANGA AVATARAN – the descent of the sacred river Ganga from the Heaven on this Earth.

Alpana has “Nritya-Visharad” in Odissi Dance, MA in Economics, B.Ed. and Diploma in Computers. She is a graded artist of Doordarshan Kendra Central Unit, empanelled on ICCR and a recipient of Fellowship from Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

She has delivered lectures on performing arts, Indian heritage, education of special children at different places such as MS University Vadodara; Devi Ahilya University, Indore; Anti Racist Forum, London; Institute for Mentally Retarded Adults, Tokamachi, Japan; The Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama & The India International Centre New Delhi. She has been conducting lec-dems in different schools of India on behalf of the IRCEN. Her disciples have won the prestigious national scholarships in 2008 and in 2009. These are awarded by the CCRT, Ministry of Culture, Government of India through nationwide competition. Alpana’s work essays the cause of spreading awareness among today’s youth about rich, inclusive and composite cultural heritage of India. Many National and International TV channels such as Doordarshan, Loksabha Channel, Pragya TV, Sahara Samay, Focus TV etc and the All India Radio have documented and telecasted/broadcasted her life and work.

Alpana’s work essays the cause of spreading awareness among today’s youth about rich, inclusive and composite cultural heritage of India. Many National and International TV channels such as Doordarshan, Loksabha Channel, Pragya TV, Sahara Samay, Focus TV etc and the All India Radio have documented and telecasted/broadcasted her life and work.