Kelucharan Mohapatra

Kelucharan Mohapatra (8 January 1926 – 7 April 2004) was a legendary Indian classical dancer, guru, and exponent of Odissi dance, who is credited with the revival and popularizing of this classical dance form in the 20th century.<ref>DANCE REVIEW; Sculptural And Sensual, It's Odissi by Anna Kisselgoff, New York Times, 19 October 2000.</ref> He is the first person to receive the Padma Vibhushan from Odisha.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A noted Sanskrit poet of India writes on this Guru: Saango-paanga-subhangi-laasya-madhuram samteerna-nrutyaarnavam, which translates as – "Each fraction of his dancing body leads to paramount sweetness, through miraculous poses and postures. In fact, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra crossed the ocean of styles."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Early life and history

In his youth, Kelucharan Mohapatra performed Gotipua – a traditional dance form of Odisha where young boys dress up as woman to praise Lord Jagannath. Later in his life he did extensive research on Gotipua and Mahari dance, which lead him to restructure Odissi dance. Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra was a master in Percussion instruments – Mardala and Tabla, which clearly resonates in his dance compositions. He was also skilled in the traditional Pattachitra painting.

Kelucharan Mohapatra along with his wife, Laxmipriya Mohapatra, herself a dancer, and their son Ratikant Mohapatra built Srjan in 1993.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Kelucharan Mohapatra was conferred a Doctorate by the Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal in 1981.

Disciples

Some notable disciples include

• Sanjukta Panigrahi
• Kumkum Mohanty
• Madhavi Mudgal
• Sonal Mansingh
• Debi Basu
• Protima Bedi
• Jhelum Paranjape
• Ratikant Mohapatra
• Sharmila Biswas
• Sujata Mohapatra
• Sharon Lowen
• Shubhada Varadkar<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Daksha Mashruwala.

Awards

File:Birthplace of Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra.JPG

Birthplace of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra at Raghurajpur, Odisha.

File:Statue of Padmabhushan Guru kelucharan mohapatra in the Odissi research centre, Bhubaneswar.JPG

Statue of Kelucharan Mohapatra in Bhubaneswar

• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1966
• Padma Shri, 1974<ref name="Padma Awards">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Padma Bhushan, 1988<ref name="Padma Awards" />
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, 1991
• Padma Vibhushan, 2000<ref name="Padma Awards" />
• Kalidas Samman from Madhya Pradesh government

Quotes made by Kelucharan Mohapatra

• "Odissi is not a mere dance form to entertain people but to inspire and elevate. I don't actually dance but pray in compassion and the spectators say that this `form' is dancing."<ref name=hi>Template:Cite news</ref>
• "The real dance must convey the feeling of undivided existence, that a spectator can feel that he is not different from the thing observed".<ref name=hi/>

Further reading

File:Nrityagram Dance Community.jpg

A temple dedicated to Kelucharan Mohapatra at Nrityagram Dance Community, near Bangalore.

• The Making of a Guru: Kelucharan Mohapatra, His Life and Times, by Ileana Citaristi. Published by Manohar, 2001. Template:ISBN.
• The Dancing Phenomenon: mad boy, by Sharon Lowen, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Avinash Pasricha. Lustre Press, Roli Books, 2001. Template:ISBN.

External links

• [1]
• Homage to a Guru at Rediff.com

Video links

• Template:YouTube
• Template:YouTube
• [2]
• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 1445940

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=1445940|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nm1445940/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+%0A++++++%7C+%7B%7B%7Bname%7D%7D%7D%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if: 1445940  {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: 
 | {{{name}}}
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: 1445940{{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=1445940|plain=false}}

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}