Showing posts with label Classical Dancers. Show all posts
Shovana Narayan (Kathak)
SHOVANA NARAYAN is
best known as one of the best Kathak danseuses in the world. She
performs in India and around the world, and has been awarded the Padma
Shri. Her
guru is Birju Maharaj.
Ms. Narayan studied at Miranda House in Delhi, India
(graduating with a Masters degree in Physics) and was also a career officer of
the Indian Audits & Accounts Service who retired in 2010. She is
married to Dr. Herbert Traxl, Austrian Ambassador to India.
Tag :
Classical Dancers
Durga Lal (Kathak)
PANDIT DURGA LAL (1948 - 21 Jan
1990) was a renowned Kathak dancer of the Jaipur Gharana.
He was born in Mahendragarh, Rajasthan. He is known for playing the title main
role in the 1989 dance drama Ghanashyam; the music of which was
composed by Pandit Ravi Shankar and was produced by Birmingham
Opera Company. For his contributions to the field of Kathak form of dance
he was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, by Government
of India.He had also received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the
year 1984.
Lal was a
disciple of Sunder Prasdji. Along with being a Kathak dancer he was also a
singer and would play Pakhvaj. He taught Kathak at the National
Institute of Kathak Dance (Kathak Kendra), New Delhi. Lal's brother
Pandit Devi Lal was also a renowned Kathak dancer. Devi Lal's wife
Gitanjali Lal is also a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winner (2007). Both
brothers died at an early age. After Durga Lal's death his children and
other art fraternity members have been organising an annual festival called
Pandit Durga Lal Memorial Festival. He has two children, elder daughter Nupur
and younger son Mohit. Nupur is Kathak performer and vocalist and
Mohit is a percussionist. His disciples include renowned dancers Uma
Dogra and Jayant Kastuar amongst others. In memory of Lal, Dogra has
arranged the "Pandit Durga Lal Samaroh" for more than 15 years as of
2005. She has also made a documentary Nirvana Through
Dance on him.
Tag :
Classical Dancers
Kelucharan Mohapatra (Odissi)
GURU KELUCHARAN MOHAPATRA ( January
8, 1926 – April 7, 2004) was an Indian classical dancer,guru, and
proponent of Odissi dance, who is credited for the revival of the
classical dance form in the 20th century. He is the first person to get Padma
Vibhushan from Odisha. A Noted Sanskrit poet of India writes on
this Guru 'that
Saango-paanga-subhangi-laasa-madhuram samteerna-nrutyaarnavam' which means - Each fraction of his dancing body leads to paramount
sweetness through the miraculous pose and postures. In fact, Guru Kelucharan
Mohapatra crossed the ocean of styles.
Tag :
Classical Dancers
Pandit Birju Maharaj (Kathak)
BRIJMOHAN MISHRA, popularly known as PANDIT
BIRJU MAHARAJ (born February 4, 1938) is the leading exponent of
the Lucknow Kalka-Bindadin gharana of Kathak dance
in India. He is a descendant of the legendary Maharaj family of Kathak
dancers, including his two uncles, Shambhu Maharaj and Lachhu
Maharaj, and his father and guru, Acchan Maharaj. Even though dancing is his
first love, he also has an excellent command over Hindustani classical
music and is an accomplished vocalist as well.[1] He took Kathak to new
heights by choreographing new Kathak dance dramas.He is also the founder of
kalashram. He has toured extensively across the globe, given thousands of
performances and held hundreds of workshops for kathak students.
After working along with his uncle, Shambhu Maharaj at
Bhartiya Kala Kendra, later the Kathak Kendra, New Delhi, he remained
head of the latter, for several years, till his retirement in 1998 when he
opened his own dance school, Kalashram, also in Delhi.
Tag :
Classical Dancers
