Debapriya Das
Debapriya Das is a professional dancer, choreographer and instructor specialising in Middle Eastern traditional & classical dances. With close to a decade of training & experience in Middle Eastern dances/oriental dances, Debapriya has established herself as a dance artist whose work primarily revolves around narratives which are socially & culturally relevant while creating a space for Middle Eastern dances to thrive in contemporary India. She is based out of Bangalore.
Debapriya took her first belly dance class in Bangalore in 2012 and there was no looking back since then. In the last decade, she has travelled across the world to train in oriental dances & its associated folk formats. In the last few years, Debapriya has spent considerable time & effort in studying the culture, lifestyle, traditions & the chequered history of Egyptian classical & folk dances – also popularly known as ‘belly dance’ in many parts of the world.
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As part of her oriental dance career, Debapriya has participated, taught & performed at various international & national dance festival. Recently she was a faculty at Tribal Roma Meeting 2024, Rome. She also performed at one of the oldest oriental dance festivals in the world – the Nile festival, Cairo in July 2024. Debapriya has been part of Cairo! Budapest Festival- Europe’s leading oriental dance festival- for 2 years, 2019 & 2023.
In 2023, under the guidance of Debapriya as the choreographer and principal dancer 'The Nrityakosh Company' presented their work at the Cairo! The company won the “Talent of the Year” award at the Budapest festival, making them the first Indian belly dance company to win a prestigious & traditional Oriental Dance Competition. In 2025, Debapriya was invited as a faculty at the 15th year anniversary of Cairo! Budapest Festival.
Debapriya has been travelling & studying oriental dances from international master teachers since 2014 and has since then performed in numerous oriental & fusion belly dance festivals across United States, Europe & India. In 2023, Debapriya received the emerging artist award from Kolkata Center of Creativity for her piece “I – Homage to my hips”. She premiered the piece at the prestigious Ami Arts Festival, Kolkata in December 2023.
Before her belly dance training, Debapriya was trained in Bharatanatyam during her formative years from 8 till 18, from Nalanda Dance Research Centre, Mumbai. Debapriya is also trained in Kathak & ballet. She is part of the Rhythmotion ensemble led by Guru Chitra Arvind. As part of Rhythmotion ensemble, in 2018, she got an opportunity to represent India at the 14th International Busan Dance festival as part of ICCR initiative.
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Debapriya holds a B. A and a M.Sc degree in Economics and previously worked as a research economist for a leading thinktank based in India. Her primary interests were in the field of poverty, sustainable development and climate change adaptation. She transitioned to a full-time dance artist in 2018.
Debapriya is one of the leading belly dance artists in India today. Her primary vision is to represent Middle Eastern dances to the contemporary Indian audience in a manner they can relate to without changing the spirit of the art form. Keeping this thought mind, she has created work which has been widely different from a usual belly dance narrative one sees in current times.
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