Question

Tell about Uday Shanker.

Answer 1

Uday Shankar was the eldest son of Barrister Syam Shankar of Jessore, which is now in Bangladesh. He comes from a very cultured family where children were taught to paint, sing, dance, etc. Uday had three brothers, Rajendra, Davendra, and Rabindra, the youngest brother, Rabindra, is better known as Pundit Ravi Shankar - the sitar virtuoso, who is still alive. He was a gifted painter who studied at the J. J. School of the Arts in Bombay. Then he went to England in the early 1920s to study painting at the Royal College of Art in London. While he was studying in London, he choreographed two ballads of which one was based on Hindu mythology ("Krishna and Radha") and the other on Hindu society ("A Hindu Wedding"). These two ballads were premiered at the Covent Garden. That was the time when he came in contact with the famous Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. He worked with her and learned ballet movements, which he incorporated in his future work. <!--[endif]-->

Uday Shankar returned to India in 1929 and soon formed his own dance troupe. Between 1932 and the 1960s, the troupe crisscrossed Europe. He brought his troupe to America in 1937. In 1938, he opened a dance school in Almora, U.P. calling it "Uday Shankar Indian Culture Center." The center was closed during World War II but it reopened in Kolkata after the war in 1965. The school was however renamed "Uday Shankar Center for Dance." He married his student, Amala, circa in late thirties. Their son, Ananda—an accomplished rock-fusion Jazz musician, was born in 1942. They also have a daughter, Mamata. After Uday's death in 1977, his widow Amala Shankar took the charge of the school. She is still alive as of this writing (December 17, 2004). Her school in Kolkata continues to teach an all-embracing performance curriculum that includes training in folk and classical dance, improvisation, costume design and theatrical makeup.