A photo of Astad Deboo. (Image courtesy of Instagram)
Highlight
- Astad Deboo died at her Mumbai home on Thursday morning.
- He died after a brief illness, his family said in a statement.
- Astad Deboo received the Padma Shri in 2007
Mumbai:
Contemporary Indian dancer Astad Deboo, known for marrying Kathak and Kathakali in a unique way, died here Thursday, his family said, the PTI news agency reported. He was 73 years old. “He left us at dawn on December 10, at his home in Mumbai, after a short illness, bravely endured,” the family announced on social media. “He leaves behind a formidable legacy of unforgettable performances combined with an unwavering dedication to his art, equaled only by his huge and loving heart that has won him thousands of friends and a host of fans,” he said. The ad read: “The loss to family, friends, fraternity of dancers, both classical and modern, Indian and international, is inestimable. May he rest in peace. We will miss him.” Deboo stands out for creating a modern dance vocabulary that was uniquely Indian.
He once said that there was a time when most Indians viewed his style as “too western”, while Westerners discovered that it was “not Indian enough.” His innovative style of Indian dance may have attracted attention in the 1970s and 1980s, but in the 1990s people adopted this new language. Born on July 13, 1947 in Gujarat’s Navsari city, the dancer, who studied Kathak with Guru Prahlad Das from an early age, and later Kathakali with Guru EK Pannicker, described his style as “contemporary in vocabulary and traditional in moderation. “. With a dance career spanning half a century, she has performed in more than 70 countries, including solo, group and collaborative choreographies with artists, at home and abroad.
Known for his charitable endeavors, Deboo worked with deaf children, both in India and abroad for two decades. In 2002, he founded the Astad Deboo Dance Foundation, which provided creative training to underserved sections, including people with disabilities. Deboo also dabbled in other artistic disciplines, such as film, choreographing for directors such as Mani Ratnam, Vishal Bhardwaj and the legendary painter MF Hussain ‘Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities’.
“He has created a style of dance-theater that successfully assimilates Indian and Western techniques,” read the Sangeet Natak Akademi award he received in 1995 for his contribution to contemporary creative dance. He also received the Padma Shri in 2007.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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