Flora Devi, actress, Indian dancer and storyteller, was born in Pune, India. As a child she learnt to mime with her deaf elder brother. Her family emigrated to England and settled in Liverpool. She graduated from Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland in Literature and Drama winning awards for her interpretations of Shakespeare. She then went on to act in a series of plays for BBC Radio 4.

While in Belfast she met the mime artist ADAM DARIUS and later joined his company in London.

Wanting to find her roots she returned to India. She fell in love with the Indian classical dance form Odissi . In Mumbai she became a student of the renowned Odissi dance Guru SHANKAR BEHERA. She started giving solo recitals of Odissi and then became her guru's parner on stage.

She married the photographer ASHVIN GATHA. As Flora Gatha she created multimedia shows combining dance, mime and photography. For the film "Devdasi" the setting was the Sun Temple in Konarak, Orissa.

Receiving an invitation from the Government of Mauritius to develop Indian culture, Flora Gatha choreographed the ballet "Atman" which starred Patrick Athaw, the contemporary dancer.

Back in England she seperated from her husband and took the name Flora Devi as her stage name.

She then met TUUP the Guyanese storyteller musician through whom she discovered the art of storytelling.They formed Indo-Caribean storytelling company Tellers of Time.

In London she performed with different companies such as the Priory Community Centre and ID, taught Indian Mime at the London Mime Centre and danced in the videos Keep on Moving by the groupe Soul II Soul and "Sleepwalking" by Jerry Rafferty.

Flora Devi then left London to settle in the south of France, in Montpellier. She founded the Anjali Association organizing Festivals such as “Semaine de l’Inde" (India Week) and" Fenêtre de l’Inde” (Window on India).
She is the honorary President of the Montpellier Festival 'Journées du Cinéma Indien et Bollywood ' which prsents an annual festival of Indian films subtitled in French.

Now telling her stories in French, her children’s show "Jantamantra" won the award at the Festival “Au Bonheur des Mômes “(Make kids happy)
She performs regularly in Storytelling festivals in French speaking countries around the world.
However she continues to perform with Tuup for shows in French speaking countries. As the Tellers of Time, Tuup and Flora Devi create bilingual English- French shows which can be performed for school chiildren and the general public.

Once in France, Flora Devi started teaching Odissi and Bollywood dance. She gives monthly workshops in Montpellier where she is Dancer in Residence at the cultural centre Maison Pour Tous Albertine Sarrazin.
In partenership with their English department, she teaches Mime, Indian Dance and Storytelling in English at various Colleges and Lycées.

Flora Devi teaches Odissi dance also in Lausanne, Switzerland. Her students perform regularly each year in the annual Swiss Dance festival 'Fête de la Danse' in Lausanne and Yverdon-les-Bains.
In Switzerland she directed children for the theatre company Le Petit Théâtre de Lausanne.

In 2020 she started giving workshops in Jaipur, India.

The Anjali Association produced her storytelling CD "VASANTA RAGA" to help the French Association for Abandoned Children (AFEA) in Mumbai

The Government of Reunion Island asked her to make an exhibition on Odissi dance which she entitled "Du Temple à la Scène “(From the Temple to the Stage).
She took the opportunity to return to Mauritius where she was invited by Patrick Athaw and her other old students to perform her solo show show of Storytelling and Indian Dance.

Flora Devi's bilingual shows,( in French and English) are bewitching young and old around the world, from Canada to Burkina Faso , from Liverpool to Geneva ! They are captivated by her joy, warmth and integrity.