Life After Dada
Image 9.1: With Sunanda, Babu (Shamik), and Sona (Sulakshana) in 1980
The pall of gloom that had settled over me with Dada’s demise dissipated somewhat with the birth of our second child in 1978 – our son, Shamik. I now started on a mission of sorts in my effort to propagate Dada’s style. I also slowly found myself being inexorably drawn towards Tagore’s works. And at the twilight of my life, when I look back, I find that what I have spent working on most of my life is Tagore’s works, choreographed in Dada’s style of dance.
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My fascination with Tagore had developed right from my days at the Academy, not only with dances set to Tagore’s songs, but also with Shyama, where I played my first character role in a dance drama. The ambience of Tagore’s house at Jorasanko had also bewitched me so much that I would often go and sit there even during my vacations, and be filled with a sense of peace and well-being. Then of course, as fate would have it, I joined Dada during the production of Samanya Kshati and became the Ballet Master of Dada’s troupe for his production of Prakriti Ananda.
Suchitra Mitra, the veteran Rabindra Sangeet singer whom we lost so recently, was the first person to give me a break to play the male lead roles in Tagore’s dance dramas. I played the role of Bajrasen in Shyama, Kach in Kach Debjani and Ruhitan in Tasher Desh in Rabitirtha’s productions. Although these dance dramas were directed by Sri Ramgopal Bhattacharya, I choreographed my dances in Dada’s style.
Image 9.2: In Rabitirtha’s production of Tasher Desh with Shambhuda (Shambhu Bhattacharya) during our tour of USA and Canada with Suchitradi
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My next break in terms of propagating Dada’s style in a big way came with Shyamasree Tagore’s production of Brides of India for the Closing Ceremony of the World Table Tennis Tournament in 1975 under my sole direction. The interesting part is that I was also a part of the Opening Ceremony of the same tournament with Ruma Guhathakurta’s Calcutta Youth Choir. Sunanda, another dancer Supriya and I had opened the programme with Tagore’s song Prathamo Adi Tabo Shakti, choreographed in Dada’s style. Soon Shyamasree Tagore, who also happened to be Abanindranath Tagore’s grand daughter-in-law, approached me for a production of Shyama under my direction. I was to enact the role of Bajrasen as well. After this, there was no looking back.
The melody and lyricism of Tagore and Dada’s style of dance were almost ‘made for each other’. Soon most of Kolkata and Bengal and productions elsewhere, knowingly or unknowingly, adopted Dada’s style of dance by way of interpreting Tagore’s works.
I have also been associated with and been an integral part of Santosh Sengupta’s Suramandir. A pioneer in popularizing Tagore’s dance dramas all over the globe, I was the dance director as well as played the male lead for all his productions of Shyama, Chandalika, Chitrangada and other productions for almost a decade.
Ruma Guhathakurta’s Calcutta Youth Choir also has a very precious place in my heart. Under Rumadi’s music direction and my dance direction, Calcutta Youth Choir won the Best Performer Award in the 1974 Youth Festival, Denmark.
Image 9.3: When Mohordi (Kanika Bandopadhya) came to meet me backstage after a performance of Chitrangada. I had first met Mohordi during Dakshinee’s production of Shyama, during my Academy years, when I had enacted the role of Uttiya
Image 9.4: With Arati Mazumdar, an extremely powerful dancer, as Bir Chitrangada, and myself as Arjun.
Image 9.5: With Munni (Aloknanda Roy) as Shyama, and me enacting the role of Bajrasen
Image 9.6: Sharing stage space with Rumadi in a Bhangra dance during a production of Calcutta Youth Choir
Image 9.7: In a Santhal dance with (L-R) Sambhuda, Supriya, and Sunanda, again in a production of Rumadi's Calcutta Youth Choir
I was also fortunate enough to work under the direction of Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra in Sutapa Talukdar’s presentation of Abhigyan Shakuntalam. Here too I implemented Dada’s style in my characterization of Dushyanta and won rave reviews.
Image 9.8: With Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra during a rehearsal of Abhigyan Shakuntalam
Image 9.9: With Sutapa Talukdar and her students, I enacted the role of Dushyant in Kalidas’ Abhigyan Shakuntalam under Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra’s direction. This image is from our performance in New Delhi.
I have also directed and performed, in water ballet form, Tagore’s Shyama (1969), Chitrangada (1979) and Samanya Kshati (1982) at the Indian Life Savings Society (Anderson Swimming Club), again being guided by Uday Shankar Style of Creative Dance not only while composing but even while performing.
With Sunanda, I continued to teach and undertake productions based on Uday Shankar style of Dance through our dance institution Nrityangan. Our various productions include Samanya Kshati, Life of Buddha, Shyama, Chitrangada, Chandalika, Tasher Desh, Saapmochan, Barsho O Basanto and others.
Image 9.10: Enacting the role of Arjun in Tagore’s Chitrangada in a water ballet format at Indian Life Saving Society (Anderson), Kolkata.
Image 9.11: With Sunanda in the last scene of Chitrangada in Nrityangan’s presentation at Rabindra Janmotsav at Rabindra Sadan, in the late 1980s.
Image 9.12: A scene from the recreated Mahajiban. Barda (Dhurjoti), who can be seen in the role of Chhanna, the charioteer of Prince Siddharth, continued to be a part of Nrityangan’s productions for many years
Image 9.13: The folk dance scene from Nrityangan’s recreation of Samanya Kshati
Image 9.14: A still from Nrityangan’s production of Tagore’s dance drama Chandalika. Many of the compositions by Dada, such as that of the Buddhist monks and nuns, as well as other movements and compositions – be it in the folk-dance sequence or the mantra sequence, were retained as they were in Prakriti Ananda production of 1966, when I was the Ballet Master of the troupe. The image reflects the real-life mother daughter duo Sunanda and Sulakshana enacting the roles of the mother daughter duo in the dance-drama as Ma and Prakriti. This image was published in Desh, a bi-monthly literary magazine published by Ananda Bazar Patrika in the early 1990s.
Image 9.15: In a scene from Nrityangan’s production of Chitrangada in the late 1980s.
Image 9.16: With Sumita Banerjee in the role of Surupa Chitrangada
Image 9.17: With Rema Lakshmi Menon in an enactment of Mahabijan, based on the Life of Buddha
Doordarshan Kendra Kolkata has also invited me, along with my troupe Nrityangan, to present several dance dramas like Chandalika, Tasher Desh, Life of Buddha, Samanya Kshati, Parishod, Chitrangada, Shyama and Guru Pronam – a tribute to Uday Shankar through my performance of Kartikeya and a few other items like Astra Puja, Madia and others.
Image 9.18: As Arjun in Kolkata Doordarshan’s production of Chitrangada in the late 1970s. This was the first time that a dance drama was shot outdoors. This was produced by Indrani Roy.
Image 9.19: With Malati Bandopadhya, the Kolkata Doordarshan producer with whom I worked for the maximum number of productions in Doordarshan Kendra Kolkata.
One of my achievements probably also lies in the fact that while working at Loreto House and other branches of Loreto, one of the most prestigious education institutes of Kolkata for over 33 years, along with Sunanda, I have been able to imbibe in generations of students the beauty of Uday Shankar Style of Creative Dance not only through the exercises of the method worked out by Dada, but also with productions like Samanya Kshati, The Great Renunciation, and Prakriti Ananda to name a few. Some of the musicians involved with these projects like Vishnu Sadhukahn and Ranjan Mazumdar had been a part of Dada’s troupe for many of his productions.
Image 9.20: The Loreto nuns were always there in the audience in all of Nrityangan’s productions.
Image 9.21: The Loreto nuns who came to meet us backstage after Nrityangan’s production of Tagore’s Tasher Desh at Rabindra Sadan in the early 1990s.
A list of all the performances I have partaken in over a career of more than half a decade would be impossible to list. However, I feel compelled to mention the ones that I have, and many others that I have not, because in all my efforts, and in each of the productions, I have not only propagated Dada’s style, but implemented it in new and different directions without losing any of the perfection of Dada’s movements.
Image 9.22 and 9.23: Both images were shot as promotional pictures and used in the souvenir of Dada’s tour of the USA in 1968. This was my costume for Arjun in the item Kirat Arjun. I continued to maintain this look in all my subsequent enactments of Arjun in other dance dramas as well. One of my most precious memories during this photoshoot was when Dada asked me, “Shanti, what’s your age?’. Once I told him, he said “my movements were not as perfect as yours at this age”. These words from Dada were a tremendous source of inspiration and encouragement to me.
Image 9.24: With Mamo (Mamata Shankar) in a production of Shyama in 1978. She enacted the role of Shyama, and I, Bajrasen
West Bengal State Akademi of Dance Drama Music and Visual Arts, and Rabindra Bharati University, Song and Drama Division, Government of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, West Bengal State Music Academy, Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Rabindra Sadan, Kolkata, and last but not the least Sangeet Natak Akademi, have all provided me the opportunity to teach the nuances of Dada’s style of Dance.
Image 9.25: Being conferred the Akademi award by the then Governor of West Bengal, Sri Gopal Krishna Gandhi.
Image 9.26: An immense joy and honour to receive an award from one my favourite folk singers of Bengal, Amar Pal
Image 9.27: Conducting a workshop on Uday Shankar style of creative dance organised by the Paschim Banga Rajya Sangeet Academy
Image 9.28: At Rabindra Sadan in an exchange program with the Kyiv Ballet troupe in 1988. Ukraine was then still a part of the Soviet Union.
Image 9.29: Paying my respects to Dada on his birth centenary celebrations at the Uday Shankar Shatabdi Samaroh in New Delhi, organized by Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) in 2001. From left to right are Shyamanand Jalan, Jayant Kastaur – the then Secretary of SNA, Narendra Sharma, Sachin Shankar, and I. Picture credit – Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Image 9.30: In front of the banner at Kamani auditorium, where the celebrations were held.
Image 9.31: With noted dance scholar, Dr. Sunil Kothari, after Nrityangan’s staging of the recreation of Samanya Kshati, at the Uday Shankar Shatabdi Samaroh in 2001, organized by Sangeet Natak Akademi at New Delhi. The re-creation was in the format as presented in 1972, when I was the Assistant Director for the production of Samanya Kshati, as well as the Ballet Master of Dada’s troupe. Picture credit – Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Image 9.32: Being interviewed by noted dance critic Utpal Banerjee on Uday Shankar style of dance, for the archives of Sangeet Natak Academy, as part of the Shatabdi Samaroh
Image 9.33: Demonstrating Astra Puja with my students at the Uday Shankar Shatabdi Samaroh in Kolkata.
Image 9.34: Performing Dada’s Kartikeya with my daughter, Sulakshana. I look to her to carry forward Dada’s style through her work, as she has been trained in the form by both.Sunanda and me.
I sincerely hope that Dada’s style will continue to live on in its fullest spirit, and that the movements he conceived and created, and the way he used his dance form as a medium of thought provoking narrative, does not fade into mere nostalgia. I can only hope that it remains a vibrant and living medium through which generations of dancers can give form to their creativity and imagination.
Images: Private collection of Shanti Bose
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