Nrityagram is India's first modern

Gurukul A () is a traditional system of religious education in India with ('students' or 'disciples') living near or with the guru in the same house for a period of time where they learn and get educated by their guruji. Etymology The word is a comb ...

(residential school) for

Indian classical dance Indian classical dance, or ''Shastriya Nritya'', is an umbrella term for different regionally-specific Indian classical dance traditions, rooted in predominantly Hindu musical theatre performance,, Quote: All of the dances considered to be part ...

s and an

intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of group cohesiveness, social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, wh ...

in the form of a dance village, set up by

Odissi dance ''Odissi'' (''ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ'') also referred to as ''Orissi'' in old literature, oldest surviving classical dance of India, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temple, temples of Odisha – an eastern ...

r Protima Gauri in 1985. The residential school offers training in Indian classical dance forms,

Odissi ''Odissi'' (''ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ'') also referred to as ''Orissi'' in old literature, oldest surviving classical dance of India, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temple, temples of Odisha – an eastern ...

, Mohiniattam,

Kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...

Bharatnatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jain ...

Kuchipudi ''Kuchipudi'' ( ) is one of the eight major Indian classical dances. It originates from a village named Kuchipudi in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi is a dance-drama performance, with its roots in the ancient Hindu Sanskrit ...

Kathakali ''Kathakali'' (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Kathakaḷi ) is a traditional form of Indian Classical Dance, and one of the most complex forms of Theatre of India, Indian theatre. It is a play of verses. These vers ...

and Manipuri, eight hours a day, six days a week for seven years, following the ancient Guru-shishya tradition. Designed by famous Indian architect

Gerard da Cunha Gerard da Cunha (born 10 February 1955) is an Indian architect based in Goa, India. He is the founder and principal architect of the architecture firm Architecture Autonomous. An alumnus of the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, he i ...

, the community is situated near

Hesaraghatta Lake Hesaraghatta Lake is a humanmade reservoir located 18 km to the north-west of Bengaluru in Karnataka state, India. It is a fresh water lake created in the year 1894 across the Arkavathy River to meet the drinking water needs of the city. S ...

30 km from

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

. Today the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble has performed across India and in many countries abroad.

History

The word Nrityagram, literally translated, means "dance village," and in founder, Protima Gauri's own words, Grounds and gardens of the Nrityagram Dance Community

Grounds and gardens of the Nrityagram Dance Community

Protima left Mumbai to start the dance village, the land was given on lease by state government, by the then Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde and by 1990s the institution had taken root, formally inaugurated on 11 May 1990, by the then Prime Minister, V.P. Singh. Being designed by the well- reputed Indian architect

, the building started coming up soon after, following the

vernacular architecture Vernacular architecture (also folk architecture) is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. It is not a particular architectural movement or style but rather a broad category, encompassing a wide range a ...

of the region. The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble made its New York debut in 1996 and received rave reviews. Lynne Fernandez a Delhi-based theatre actress and light designer, first came to Nrityagram in December 1995 to coordinate Surupa Sen's debut and the Nrityagram ensemble's trip abroad and after Protima suffered a mild heart attack, Lynn became actively involved managing the institution, as Protima gradually withdrew. Eventually Protima formally handed over Nrityagram to Lynne Fernandez on 10 July 1997, who became the Managing Trustee of the institution. Subsequently, in August, Protima Gauri set off on her pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar and it was there that she died in the Malpa landslide, near

Pithoragarh Pithoragarh ( Kumaoni: ''Pithor'garh'') is a Himalayan town with a Municipal corporation in Pithoragarh district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the largest hill town in Uttarakhand. Etymology "The district is named after its hea ...

on the night of 18 August 1997. Since then, Nrityagram has grown in its stature by leaps and bounds and is known today for some of the best ensemble work in. Perfection in dance along with a high level of good technical support, leading to a complete presentation, is its trademark. Even today, gurus and students work in the fields within the Nrityagram, which has 10 acres of land, and grow their own food. Over the years, only Odissi gurukul has been functional due to paucity of funds. Classical Dancers At Nrityagram

Buildings in the Nrityagram Dance Community

Surupa Sen who first came as a student, debuted in 1995, later became artistic director of Nrityagram in 1997, and remains to date. Orissa Dance Academy (ODA) student Bijayini Satpathy who was first student of Nrityagram, is now in charge of the Odissi gurukul. Some of Nrityagram's few but meritorious students include, Pavithra Reddy, who has had her solo debut in 2003 and who will be hopefully seen in some solo pieces on a wider platform very soon. She has spent almost 12 years as a residential student at Nrityagram, and has learnt under the tutelage of Surupa Sen and Bijayini Satpathy. Ayona Bhaduri and Priyambada Patnaik are also students at this gurukul. They both joined Nrityagram in 1998 and have been a part of the ensemble since 2001.

Vasanta Habba Vasanta Habba (), which means ''spring festival'' in the Kannada language, is a cultural festival organised by the Nrityagram foundation in the city of Bangalore, India. It is a very popular event and is considered the classical Woodstock of Indi ...

, a cultural event organised by Nrityagram is known as the classical

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, first started in 1994 by Protima, held on first Saturday of February every year, and soon it became the famous annual night-long festival of arts that had 40,000 visitors when it was last held in 2004. When the

2004 tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the scient ...

struck, the subsequent 2005 event was cancelled, and community hasn't been able to regroup since, though it hopes to restart it in 2011. A 30-minute documentary on the dance village, ''Nrityagram: For the Love of Dance,'' directed and produced by Nan Melville was premiered at the annual Dance on Camera Festival, in New York City on 25 January 2010 to which dance critic

Alastair Macaulay Alastair Macaulay is an English writer and dance critic. He was the chief dance critic for ''The New York Times'' from 2007 until he retired in 2018. He was previously chief dance critic at ''The Times'' and Literary Supplement and chief theater cr ...

of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' responded, .."much of the dance footage, not least during the closing credits, is spellbinding. I wanted the film to be twice as long."

Nrityagram Dance Ensemble

The 1996 New York debut of the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble, with Surupa Sen, Bijayini Satpathy, Anitha Nair, Pavithra Reddy and Jaya Mukherjee was called, "one of the most luminous dance events of the year" by Jennifer Dunning, the dance critic of the ''

''. After its New York debut, the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble has performed to sold-out shows in Hawai and Bozeman, USA, Middle East, Far East and Europe, and in time created a niche for itself in the world of dance. Today, apart from lead dancer-choreographers, Surupa Sen and Bijayini Satpathy, Pavitra Reddy, Rasmi Raj and Manasi Tripathy are the other permanent dancers of the Ensemble, and are accompanied by musicians like Swain playing the percussion instrument, ''Mardala'', Srinibas Satapathy’s on

Bamboo flute The bamboo flute, especially the bone flute, is one of the oldest musical instruments known. Examples of Paleolithic flutes, Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists. While the oldest f ...

(

Bansuri A bansuri is an ancient side-blown bamboo flute originating from the Indian Subcontinent. It is an aerophone produced from bamboo and metal-like material, used in many Indian and Nepali Lok songs. A ''bansuri'' is traditionally made from a ...

) and Sanjib Kumar Kunda on the violin. Its first full-length production "Sri - In Search of the Goddess", was premiered in Delhi in 2001 and in the United States in 2002-2003, to critical acclaim. Since then it created several productions including, "Ansh", "Sacred Space" (2005), and "Separation and the Duality of the human spirit" (2008) By 2008, the ensemble had made 12 tours of the US, its 2006 production, ''Vibhakta'' (The Division), by Surupa Sen which was performed together by Surupa Sen, the artistic director, and Bijayini Satpathy was listed in "The Ten Best Dance Performances of 2008" by dance critic

Joan Acocella Joan Barbara Acocella (née Ross, April 13, 1945 – January 7, 2024) was an American dance critic and author. From 1998 to 2019, she was dance critic for ''The New Yorker''. She also wrote for ''The New York Review of Books'' for 33 years and a ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

''. and prior to it in February 2008, the Ensemble had the world premiere of "''Pratima'': Reflection", at

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Joyce Theater The Joyce Theatre Foundation is a leading presenter of dance in New York City and nationally. It is runs, in part, from the Joyce Theater, a 472-seat dance performance venue located in the Chelsea, Manhattan, Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in ...

.Rachel Straus, (February 2008), Review: Nrityagram Dance Ensemble: ‘Pratima: Reflection’, ''Ballet.co.uk''
, accessed 30 March 2008 It has also performed at Pittsburgh Dance Council (2002). As of 2010, the ensemble members included, Surupa Sen, Bijayini Satpathy, Pavithra Reddy, Rasmi Raj and Manasi Tripathy.

Temple of dedication

A thoughtfully evolved temple (''pictured''), built in 1998, welcomes people to the Nrityagram, near

, it depicts the image of

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. He is ...

, guru of founder Protima Bedi in a dancing pose. The caption given for the picture states:

''Temple at Nrityagram. Fashioned from the raw mud of Nrityagram and fired after it was built, the temple is dedicated to space. It is decorated with panels depicting the elements, dance motifs, mudras and designs from costumes and ghungroos. Inside is a granite rock scooped out to hold water and a flame that stays lit.''

Gallery

File:Nrityagram1.jpg File:Nrityagram2.jpg File:Nrityagram3.jpg File:Nrityagram4.jpg File:Nrityagram5.jpg File:Nrityagram6.jpg File:Nrityagram7.jpg File:Classical Dancers Of Nrityagram.jpg

References

* ''Time Pass: The Memoirs of Protima Bedi'', with Pooja Bedi Ebrahim. New Delhi, Penguin, 2000. .
''Nrityagram: For the Love of Dance'', documentary by Nan Melville (Excerpts)

External links

Nrityagram, the official website

Nrityagram, the official facebook fan pageNrityagram, the official facebook group

Archival footage of Bijayini Satpathy and Surupa Sen performing in "Kisalaya Shayana" at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2006.
{{authority control Dance schools in India Odissi Boarding schools in Karnataka High schools and secondary schools in Bengaluru Music schools in Bengaluru Intentional communities in India Arts organizations established in 1990 Educational institutions established in 1990 1990 establishments in Karnataka 20th-century dance 21st-century dance Tourist attractions in Bengaluru