Kumaon has always fascinated many a great scholar, poet, artiste or other aesthetically inclined people. Some famous names that come to mind are Mahatma Gandhi, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Mahadevi Verma and Uday Shankar.
Today is the death anniversary of “Nritya Samrat” Uday Shankar, the pioneer of modern dance in India and a world renowned dancer and choreographer. He had a deep admiration for the hills of Kumaon and set up his “dream cultural centre” in Simtola near Almora in 1938. It was called “Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre.” His legacy is still cherished in Uttarakhand, especially in Kumaon where his concept of dance left an indelible mark on various aspects of the cultural fabric of the region. The maestro invented, during his stay in Almora, the fusion of the famous ballet-based Kumaoni Ram lila and the classical style of dance.
Uday Shankar’s made one film only but it was highly acclaimed. Kalpana, his film, was chosen for screening at the Cannes Classics 2012 programme in May.The movie, made in 1948, was digitally restored by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation. Fortunately, a copy of the original negative was found at the National Film Archive of India that the Foundation used to create a brand new print.
Kalpana traces the story of a young artist’s dream to establish a dance academy. The movie has Shankar and his wife, Amala, playing the leads.
Significantly, Kalpana is the film where Guru Dutt first worked as an assistant director. He typed the script. The entire film was written at Uday Shankar’s dance academy in Almora, which became the hub of future artistes of India. It was produced and shot at Gemini Studios. Uday Shankar was the eldest son of noted barrister Syam Shankar. He was the eldest of the four siblings. His youngest brother, Rabindra was the renowned sitar maestro famous all over the world as ‘Pandit Ravi Shankar’. Ravi Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave dance performances.
Uday Shankar’s dance was inspired by various arts, including painting, theatre, sculpture and poetry. Not many people are aware that among the students who were part of his centre were famous actress Zohra Sehgal ,Uday Shankar’s wife Amala , the legendary actor and director Guru Dutt and singer lakshmi Shankar
Uday Shankar was a born dancer who had formal training in classical dances in India before he went to England in 1929. While in Europe, he was exposed to ballet. The graceful movements of ballet dancers impressed him and he incorporated these in Indian dance, creating a new kind of Indian dance. His dances were, however, rooted in Hindu mythology. He had a wonderful gift of taking the essence from various dance traditions and techniques and using them to choreograph his dance–dramas. And in that he succeeded marvelously.
Besides an adept classical dancer, Uday Shankar also had the brilliance of a painter. To develop his skills further, he was sent to the J. J. School of the Arts in Bombay. In 1920,Uday Shankar went to England to study painting at the Royal College of Art, london. There, he choreographed two ballads, based on the stories of Radha and Krishna and the other on "A Hindu Wedding". In 1929, Uday Shankar returned to India to form a dance troupe of his own
After Uday Shankar’s death on September 26, 1977, Amala Shankar took the charge of the school in Kolkata. The school continues to teach an all-embracing performance curriculum that includes training in folk and classical dance, improvisation and costume design.
The State Government has set up an Uday Shankar Academy in Falsima near Almora. It has been completed long ago but has yet to open. Artistes and cultural activists have been urging the government to open the academy and begin activity there according the vision and objectives of the academy.