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Kelucharan Mohapatra

Indian classical dancer (1926–2004)

Summary

Indian classical dancer (1926–2004)

Field	Value
name	Kelucharan Mohapatra
image	Kelucharan Mohapatra 2023 stamp of India.jpg
caption	Mohapatra on a 2023 stamp of India
birth_date
birth_place	Raghurajpur, Puri, Odisha, India
death_date
death_place	Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
occupation	Indian classical dancer, choreographer
years_active	1935–2004
spouse	Laxmipriya Mohapatra
children	Ratikant Mohapatra
awards	Padma Vibhushan

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. He is the first person to receive the Padma Vibhushan from Odisha.

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."

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. Kelucharan Mohapatra was conferred a Doctorate by the Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal in 1981.

Mohapatra on the cover of ''Artograph'' in 2021

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
Daksha Mashruwala.

Awards

Birthplace of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra at [[Raghurajpur]], [[Odisha]].

Statue of Kelucharan Mohapatra in Bhubaneswar

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1966
Padma Shri, 1974
Padma Bhushan, 1988
Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, 1991
Padma Vibhushan, 2000
Kalidas Samman from Madhya Pradesh government, 1989
Srimanta Sankardeva Award from Assam government, 1997
Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja Samman from Odisha government, 2000

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."
"The real dance must convey the feeling of undivided existence, that a spectator can feel that he is not different from the thing observed".

References

{{usurped. [https://archive.today/20121111010219/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2005/04/15/stories/2005041501680200.htm Remembering the maestro] Leela Venkatraman, ''[[The Hindu]]'', 15 April 2005.
[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E2DF153EF93AA25753C1A9669C8B63&&scp=1&sq=mad%20boy&st=cse DANCE REVIEW; Sculptural And Sensual, It's Odissi] by Anna Kisselgoff, ''[[New York Times]]'', 19 October 2000.
Sampad, Shilpi. (26 January 2013). "Sun dreamer gets Padma". telegraphindia.com.
Vanikavi Dr.Manmohan Acharya. (8 January 1926). "SRJAN, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Nrityabasa". Srjan.com.
"History Of Srjan". Srjan.
(28 February 2016). "Meet the Renowned Shubhada Varadkar. She Fought Cancer with Dance. And Won".
(2015). "Padma Awards". Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
(7 April 2006). "Glimpses of eternity". [[The Hindu]].

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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