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When the ghunguroos fell silent
Published : Dec 11, 2020, 4:03 pm IST
Updated : Dec 11, 2020, 4:06 pm IST
The world of performing arts mourns the passing of an icon who was a trailblazer for contemporary Indian dance
Astad Deboo
Astad Deboo the dance icon who seamlessly brought together Kathak and Kathakali as an ensemble art form, left millions of fans and friends grieving when he passed away in the early hours of December 10, in Mumbai.
Seventy-two-year-old Deboo fought his way with sheer talent and grit to a meaningful place on the list of India’s best-known dance icons, challenging the power and prejudice of ‘sabhas’ along the way. With flared dhotis and attractive angarkhas, he brought magic to his dance form. As a six-year-old boy, Deboo was sent to learn Kathak. In 1969, when he was 20, he boarded a cargo ship at Bombay Port, and embarked on a journey to see the world while pursuing his passion for dance. He hitch-hiked his way through Europe and went fur
Astad Deboo, the dancer who broke free, dies at 73 Indians saw his style as ‘too western’ while westerners found it ‘not Indian enough’
Astad Deboo, who broke free of the constraints imposed by traditional dance forms to create a modern idiom of rhythm and movement that was uniquely Indian and his own, died on Thursday. He was 73, leaving behind two sisters and a legion of fans and friends.
Avant garde, unconventional and pioneer, the epithets were many for the artiste who, borna month before India’s Independence, defied societal norms of gender and regular career choices to become one of India s first and perhaps most well-known contemporary dancers.