Uday Shankar Academy of Music and Dance to open in Almora
It’s a spot, in close proximity of which, dance maestro Uday Shankar had once stayed and introduced a unique style of dance—the "fusion’’ of local ballet and classical dance. Decades later, Falsima near Almora in Uttarakhand is "poised’’ to witness a gala opening of a prestigious dance academy which has been named after him.
"The building in which Uday Shankar Academy of Dance and Music will be housed is now ready at Falsima. The academy will, however, be inaugurated shortly’’, revealed the Director of the State Directorate of Culture, Beena Bhatt.
Incidentally, Falsima is a quiet, hilly place about seven km from Almora where Uday Shankar had stayed decades ago and carried out a number of experiments pertaining to classical dance and music.
"The maestro also invented one more famous style of dance during his sojourn in Almora. This style of dance is known as the `fusion’ of the famous local ballet known as 'Kumaoni Ram Lila’ and the classical style of dance, of which Uday Shankar was indeed a great master," Bhatt said. ``This form of fusion dance will be one of a number of dance and music related subjects that will form the syllabus of the academy," she revealed.
Incidentally, the great dance maestro’s stay in Almora also has one very interesting, nay, glamorous side to it, official said. Hardly anybody knows today that two great glamorous Bollywood personalities of their times had also stayed with dance maestro Uday Shankar for sometime during his sojourn in Almora. Well, they were famous stage and film actress Zohra Sehgal and the late actor, producer director Guru Dutt who is known for his classics like—`Kaagaz Ke Phool’ and `Pyasa.
By :
eep Joshi , Hindustan TimesEmail Author (
http://www.hindustantimes.com)