During my recent trip to India, I was able to visit two art / history museums of interest. One was Tagore's ancestral home in the Jorasanko (Twin Bridges) area of Kolkata, the place of the poet's birth as well as his death. The other was the wonderful National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi which I had last seen many, many decades ago. A third equally delightful encounter did not include a museum but it too was tangentially related to art and history, albeit of a more personal nature.
During my yearly trips to New Delhi I mostly spend time with family. If time permits and contact information is available, I also try to meet up with old school and college friends. Most of my friends are scattered over India and the world. Some of us have renewed connection virtually, thanks to Facebook. But real world, face to face meetings are few and far between. This time, due to the efforts of a dear friend with whom I have been in fairly regular touch over the years, I was able to meet two other very good school friends whom I had not seen for some forty years. When we came together, we were able to take up from where we had left without missing a beat. The four of us met for a leisurely lunch in a lovely restaurant in New Delhi's Khan Market. The meal lasted for nearly four hours. There was much to talk about the intervening years but mostly we talked about our boisterous teenage days. Reminiscences of school, our teachers and friends, came fast and furious. Seated in the middle of the restaurant, our loud laughter and conversation attracted the attention of other customers and the restaurant staff, I am sure. But we kept ordering food, so no one asked us to leave. Needless to say, we had a fabulous time.
One of the friends at the meeting was Madhavi Mudgal. A science student like me in school, after a short stint as a student of architecture in college, Madhavi chose a career in classical dance and went on to become an Odissi dancer and teacher of considerable repute. Ever since I had known Madhavi, she was a talented dancer. But when I knew her, she was learning and performing Kathak and Bharat Natyam. That she successfully changed over to yet another classical dance tradition later in life is not surprising for an artist as gifted and disciplined as Madhavi. Here is more on her background and accomplishments. (And yes, she is still dancing and performing publicly.)
Madhavi Mudgal epitomizes the elegance and sophistication that are the result of blending modern sensibilities with the ancient ethos of eastern India to create the highly lyrical dance art of Odissi. Born into a family deeply involved in propagating the classical arts, Madhavi was immersed in music and dance from a very young age. With every opportunity to learn the arts, Madhavi trained in Bharata Natyam and Kathak under great gurus and performed these dance styles to acclaim.
Later she turned to Odissi which she adopted as her preferred medium. Her introduction to Odissi took place under Guru Hare Krishna Bahera who trained her in the fundamentals. Later she came under the tutelage of the renowned Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra.
Madhavi's command over the nritta or purely ornamental aspect of Odissi is striking. Her delicate postures and strong rhythmic footwork combine in an appealing flow of sculpturesque movements. Her subtle abhinaya (the expressional aspect of dance), musical knowledge and aesthetic sense add to the highly distinctive character of her recitals.
Through teaching, performing and conducting workshops, Madhavi has been actively involved in propagating the art of Odissi in New Delhi and other parts of India as well as the world. She has trained a number of accomplished students who are performers in their own right. In nineteen eighty five she organized a seminar and festival, Angahaar, a first of its kind event in New Delhi when gurus, scholars and dancers met to revisit the origins of Odissi and think about the future trends of the dance form. She also directed and produced a short audio-visual documentary that was screened at the festival.
Madhavi's father, the late Professor Vinay Chandra Maudgalya was the founder of the famous Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi's first and most highly reputed institution for the teaching of Hindustani music and classical dance. Madhavi has been teaching Odissi at this institute for many years.
For her contribution to the art, Madhavi Mudgal received the Sanskriti Award and the President of India's award, the Padmashri besides the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her contribution to the world of Indian Dance.
Madhavi will be in Washington D.C. next March to participate in the Maximum India festival at the Kennedy Center. Let me see if I can make it there to see my friend dance after a gap of many, many years. Meanwhile here are a couple of video links to Madhavi's performances, one solo and the other with a group of dancers.
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