Who among the following classical dancers is NOT related to Odissi?

Correct — D. Geetanjali Lal is a Kathak exponent, not an Odissi one, so hers is the name that does not belong.

The other three sit inside Odissi: Mayadhar Raut, among the gurus who shaped the modern Odissi repertoire, Kumkum Mohanty, long associated with the Odissi Research Centre at Bhubaneswar, and Kiran Segal, a performer and teacher of the form.

One attribute decides the item — the dance form each name is attached to.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Mayadhar Raut — Mayadhar Raut is an Odissi guru, among the dancers who codified the form in the twentieth century. He sits inside the group the question is asking you to break, not outside it.
• (b)
  Kiran Segal — Kiran Segal performs and teaches Odissi, which puts her with the majority. The stem wants the dancer who stands apart from the other three, and she is not that dancer.
• (c)
  Kumkum Mohanty — Kumkum Mohanty is an Odissi dancer associated with the Odissi Research Centre at Bhubaneswar. She is squarely within the form the other two Odissi names share.

Odd-one-out culture questions turn on a single attribute, and here it is the dance form.

Odissi is the classical dance of Odisha, built on the tribhanga stance and on poses that echo the sculpture of Odisha's temples.

Kathak is the north Indian form, built on footwork, spins and a story-telling delivery that grew in both temple and court settings.

On stage the two look nothing alike. On paper they are separated only by knowing which name goes with which form, so learn dancers as name-and-form pairs.

Key facts

• Geetanjali Lal is an exponent of Kathak.
• Odissi is the classical dance of Odisha, marked by the tribhanga posture.
• Mayadhar Raut, Kumkum Mohanty and Kiran Segal are associated with Odissi.
• The Odissi Research Centre is at Bhubaneswar.

Common traps

• Marking the least familiar name instead of checking each dancer's form.
• Assuming an Odia-sounding name must mean Odissi and any other name must not.
• Reading the stem as who is best known rather than who is unrelated to Odissi.

No directly related past PYQ was found.