When she was young and possibly crazier about dance than she is today, Sonal Mansingh took up an adventure trip that was to effectively change the course of her life. With the scholarship money she obtained for a postgraduate programme in a German university, the lady left her Bombay home for Bangalore. There, her Bharatanatyam tutors were surprised, while back in the western metropolis Sonal's grandfather had launched a missing person바카라s complaint with the police.
The old man was eventually 바카라so relieved when guruji called him바카라. So much so, 바카라he forgot to be angry with me바카라, notes a recent biography of artiste-activist about the dramatic early-1960s incident. Sonal, who has been a reputed dancer for more than half a century, is now 73바카라and quite a few interesting facts about her eventful profile come to light again in 바카라A Life Like No Other바카라 authored by Sujata Prasad, a civil servant.
It was in the Karnataka capital that the artiste was largely groomed as a Bharatanatyam exponent바카라under a couple who were sticklers for the classical dance바카라s Pandanallur style that emphasises on linear geometry and understated emoting. Ubhayakar Shivaram Krishna Rao and his wife Chandrabhaga Devi had imbibed the grammar of their school from legendary Meenakshisundaram Pillai (a descendant of the famed Tanjore Quartet of the early 19th century).
Sonal바카라s guru himself was multifaceted. A Konkani Brahmin who ventured to learn a largely Tamil dance, Prof Rao (who died in 2005 at age 92) also played for the star-studded Bangalore United Cricket Club while teaching chemistry in a college in that city. It wasn바카라t Sonal바카라s pedigree (her freedom-fighter grandfather Mangal Das Pakvasa was one of Independent India바카라s first five governors) that led Rao to teach the girl, but her talent she could demonstrate before him prior to the admission in the Maha Maya school. Her arangetram in 1961 at Raj Bhavan was attended by celebrities such as the Mysore Maharajah and actress Devika Rani Roerich besides Sonal바카라s grandfather.
Sonal left Bangalore a year later but continued to learn Bharatanatyam under Bombay gurus. After all, it was under Kumar Jayakar, another Meenakshisundaram pupil, she first learned the form at age seven. At Bombay, she had a brush with Manipuri classrooms as well.
Yet another phase of dance awaited Sonal for a year from 1968 when she lived down south in Madras to learn Bharatanatyam abhinaya under Mylapore바카라s revered Gowri Ammal, who had also taught the acclaimed Rumini Devi and T. Balasaraswati. Equally admirably, Sonal took Kuchipudi classes바카라from none less than Vempati Chinna Satyam, an icon of the dance from Andhra Pradesh.
So, how did the tryst with Odissi start? Well that twist has a bit to do with her personal history as well. Sonal married her lover, diplomat Lalit Mansigh, who was an Oriya groomed in Cuttack. Her father-in-law, poet Mayadhar Mansingh, overrode his wife바카라s protests and 바카라wasted no time in taking Sonal바카라 to Kala Bikash Kendra. The 1952-founded Odissi school had its main guru in towering Kelucharan Mahapatra, who had moulded frontline practitioners such as Sanjukta Panigrahi, Kumkum Mohanty and Meenakshi Nanda. Sonal tried her eclecticism in Odissi as well by learning under other illustrious gurus such as a Mayadhar Raut and Srinath Rout.
A couple of years later, she met poet-musicologist Jiwan Pani, a distinguished scholar of performing arts, who introduced Sonal to a range of Oriya art traditions such as Chhau, Prahlad Natak, Paala and Chariya Geeti. His scholarly insights 바카라fired바카라 Sonal바카라s imagination, which 바카라was at its freest and most ambitious바카라.
In an interview with her biographer, the dancer makes quite a few interesting observations about Indian arts. 바카라Classicism certainly does not preclude creative improvisations, neither does originality distort tradition,바카라 she notes. Also, 바카라Odissi music has developed as an exquisite counterpoint to the Hindustani and Carnatic classical music traditions, with its own distinct ragas, talas and style of rendition바카라.
So, 바카라If you had to choose, what would it be바카라Bharatanatyam or Odissi바카라, asks the author. The reply goes thus: 바카라You are making it sound like Sophie바카라s Choice. I share an equal passion for Bharatanatyam and Odissi. Bharatanatyam is majestic, geometrical in conception, architectural, whereas Odissi is lyrical, graceful and sculptural.바카라
It was a 1964 Delhi performance by Sonal at Sapru House that led Lalit Mansingh to meet her바카라and eventually make Sonal his wife (though they later divorced). Politician and ex-minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who reviewed this book for Outlook the other week, himself comes as a character in this part of the story. While young Mansingh sat in the front and was 바카라clearly mesmerised바카라, Aiyar (then an IFS probationer) was in the back row. 바카라If I had been in the front row,바카라 said Aiyar later, 바카라I would have got you, Sonal바카라.
The 220-page work, published by Penguin Random House India, is priced at Rs 599.
