NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 26, 2019 (The Print): “I take the help of the modern to make others understand the ancient. I take the west to the east. I take the modern art of presentation to show the spirit of India. I am a selector of truth, of beauty. Whatever is beautiful to me is real art,” said Uday Shankar, India’s first dancer to take non-classical contemporary Indian dance forms to the West. Awards like the Padma Vibhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi and others were only a small recognition for Uday Shankar, who was devoted to propagating the Indian style of dancing fused with modern European themes. His greatest recognition was his popularity across both the West and the East.
Uday Shankar was born in a feudal family of Bengal based in Rajasthan on 8 December 1900. His family was not associated with any dance or art form whatsoever, yet two sons of the family — Uday Shankar and his younger brother Ravi, a sitarist (yes, THAT Ravi Shankar) — went on to mesmerise audiences across the world with their astonishing talents. He lived to create a legacy of Indian cultural heritage around the world. In Uday Shankar’s words, “More than anything else, art has no boundaries of nationality, race or creed. To create more understanding through dance as an art is the whole basis of my international performances.” Uday Shankar, the pioneer of Indian non-classical dance forms who enthralled Western audiences with his unique style, died this day in 1977.
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