Born on 27 June 1919 in Batajor — a village in the Barisal district of Bangladesh — Amala Shankar has stepped into her 99th year. She has learnt from her father, the late Akshoy Kumar Nandi, a value system that has been her bedrock for life. When only 15, she stormed the literary world by writing Saat Samudrer Pare, (Beyond the Seven Seas), recounting the experiences of her first tour of Europe with the legendary Uday Shankar. Amala met Uday Shankar in Paris, when she was only 11 years old.

She had accompanied her father to attend the Colonial Exhibition. Young and impressionable, she was enchanted by the grace and lyricism of Uday Shankar’s creative dance movements. It didn’t take her long to be spotted by him and join his troupe as a trainee.

Soon she realised her passion for dance and enrolled in the Uday Shankar India Culture Centre at Almora. It didn’t take her long to become Uday Shankar’s dance partner and shortly thereafter his life partner.

Pursuing her love for dance and propagating the unique dance form of Uday Shankar, Amala Shankar started the Uday Shankar India Culture Centre in Calcutta in 1965, where she imparted lessons. She also toured extensively across the country and even abroad with her dance troupe.

A self-taught painter, her uniqueness lies in the way she uses her fingers to turn an empty canvas, or a plain glass sheet into a fine piece of paining, used as a slide for Uday Shankar’s shadow play, Ramleela. In 1948, she appeared in Udayshankar’s film Kalpana, a masterpiece of rare aesthetic perception presented with poetic élan.

The film restored by Martin Scorsese was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012 and the screening was attended by Amala Shankar alongside daughter-in-law, Tanusree Shankar and daughter, Mamata Shankar. She was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Bhushan in 1991, Banga Bibhushan by the Government of West Bengal, honorary doctorates from Rabindra Bharati University (1999) and Presidency University (2016), apart from many more citations from various organisations.

Endowed with the finest qualities of head and heart, Amala Shankar, one of India’s most distinguished daughters, stands tall to this day.

The dance world wishes her a long life. *** Purvai Sannskreeti Kala Vikaash Kendra in association with ICCR held their second Kala Vithika Apoorva Pratibha Mahotsav 2017. To mark the occasion Guru Pandit Rajendra Gangani gave the Kala Yashashvi Award 2016 to Guru Ratikant Mohapatra for his outstanding performances, choreography and contribution to Indian classical dance.

Rajashree Praharaj received Pandit Kundanlal Gangani Award 2016 for her exceptional track record. She performed Vinayak Saranam for the Kolkata audience, in a flawless technique and with sensuous movements. Each and every word was described vividly through the vocabulary of Odissi. It is indeed incredible that Indian classical dances are languages of their own replete with proper grammar and syntax.

In Thumaka chalata Ramchandra by Tulsi Das, Praharaj was able to alternate her mime between the toddler Rama and his mother Kausalya. She created rasa and the audience basked in its glory. Pandit Rajendra Gangani mesmerised the audience with his polished rendition of Jaipur Gharana Kathak, which he has imbibed from his father and Guru, Pandit Kundanlal Gangani. He struck an instant rapport with rasikas by dancing to the chant, Mahesham Suresham. Gangani is the grand-nephew of Kathak Guru, Narayan Prasad.

His control over footwork, and abhinaya was superb. The sideways movement of his foot even during faster speeds, as well as the dragging of the big toe at the end of a rhythmic passage to reach the first beat of the tala cycle, left one spellbound. Chootki Uthan using the offbeat and the Journey of Dha paran, using intonations of the syllable dha to lengthen or shorten the beats to suit the gati changes in Gaj Paran,Barsha,Mayur and Jugalbandi were some of the finer points of his gharana rendered effortlessly.

He rounded of his recital with the bhajan by Surdas, Guru Bin Aisi Kaun Kare. Subir Sarkar (tabla), Debashish Sarkar (vocal) and Umesh Mishra (sarangi) were his accompanists. Odissi dancer Divyani Mohanty, disciple of Nandinii Chaudhry Mohanty, performed the memorable Saveri Pallavi.

Along with Ujjwaini Mondal, she performed in the duet, Vasant Pallavi, choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra with music by Pandit Bhubaneshwar Mishra.

It was an ornamental representation, marked by elegant and lyrical movements built up gradually into complex patterns. Mentor Nandinii Chaudhry Mohanty, who is both an Odissi and a Kathak dancer, is a disciple of Guru Ratikant Mohapatra and Guru Pandit Rajendra Gangani. She performed the famous Odia Sabhinaya, Nachanti Range Shrihari in Aravi, describing the joys of dance with Lord Krishna and the gopis.

It had a mixture of nritta and abhinaya. But she could better, especially with her stage presence. Kuchipudi dancer Amarnath Ghosh started off with Pushpanjali before the rendition of a Keertanam on Krishna describing his leelas. He pleased the audience with a choreographic work of his Kuchipudi Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam to a lyric by 17th century poet Uttukadu Venkata Subbayar, in which he showcased the beauty of dancing on the rims of a brass plate.

The abhinaya piece, Sa virahe tava dina from Jaydeva’s Geeta Govinda was performed with élan. However, rigorous practice of basic dance units would stand him in his good stead. *** SNA Awardee Shashadhar Acharaya who is a big name as far Chhau dance is concerned was invited recently by Odissi dancer Rina Jana to hold a 10-day workshop at her institute Krittika in collaboration with Sangeet Natak Akademi after which Seraikela Chhau was presented by the participants of the workshop at Sandre Hall of Calcutta School of Music.

The students showed three kinds of obeisance —to Ishwar, Guru and bhumi or Mother Earth — before doing exercises of each and every part of their body. One feels that this kind of workshop opens the minds of aspiring dancers to newer ways of keeping their bodies fit and increases stamina. Most interesting was the showcasing of Bharatiya Yuddha Kala nritya.

The main abhinaya shown in Chhau is Angik abhinaya, which is taken from the Gotipua dance of Odisha. “A kalakar (artist) needs to have integrity and must be hard working”, said Shashadahar who has few parallels as a performer and teacher.

The highlight of the Chhau workshop was the inclusion of girls from the National Council of Women in India.