is A new Era now coming to an end, was the Tenor of the obituaries on the Doyenne of Indian dance, Amala Shankar, who last Friday died at the age of 101 years in Calcutta. She was the wife of the dancer Uday Shankar, which has hit in the thirties in Europe and the United States with his performances, and an almost magnetic charisma, the audience in the spell. The long life of his wife documented nearly a century, the symbiosis of Indian dance traditions with European theatre and dance styles.
Amala met Uday Shankar as a girl, 1930, in Paris, when the Russian Ballerina Anna Pavlova had recognized the Talent of Uday and put him in the European dance introduced. He and Pavlova danced on the stage, duets with Indian mythological themes. Uday founded, while in itself is not formally in an Indian dance tradition is formed, thereafter, the first Indian dance troupe in Europe, and celebrated triumphs with his creative eclectic style of dance. In his homeland, where he was promoted by the Poet Rabindranath Tagore, the drama itself for its Dance a particular dance style was created, under Uday Shankar taught at his own dance Academy; Amala was there of him training and became not only his wife, but also a dance partner.
The Trad transforming power of the Indian extended family
After the death of Uday Shankar in the year 1977, Amala took over the artistic heritage of her husband. You revived his choreographies, created new in his style, and trained generations of dancers. Until her death she was the head of the dance school in Kolkata, which bears the name of her husband.
the example of the Shankar family, the Trad proves to be the transforming power of the large Indian family. Mamata Shankar, daughter of Amala and Uday, is today a leading dancer and runs a dance school. And all the other children and brothers-in-law or brothers-in-law have inside of Amala prescribed also the dance, or instrumental music. Udays younger brother, Ravi Shankar, the sitar player of international fame was. His daughter Anoushka is now a recognized sitar player in the United States. Their half-sister, in turn, another daughter of Ravi Shankar, the singer Norah Jones.
