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ART & CULTURE
DANCE PERFECT
Naresh
Usankar is a known dancer. He is an inspiration for many budding
artistes. The name is familiar with the dance lovers in India and
abroad. He is the president and founder of Usankar Ballet Troupe.
THE
VERDICT’s VIKRAM JADAV
met him
recently over a cup of tea.
Read the rest…
“DANCE HAS a social
context. Dance, as a performing art entertains but that is its
superficial aspect. The purpose of dance or any other art form cannot
be merely to entertain. It has a social context. It has to build
bridges between past the present, creating a bond between the
characters in its story and the audience,” says Naresh Usankar,
Founder and Director of “Usankar Ballet Troupe” has been religiously
working towards the spreading of Ballet culture based on pure Indian
dances, all over the world. Their Ballet shows unique style- a superb
confluence of Kathak, Kathakali, Bharat Natyam, Odissi and Manipuri
Cultures, known as Oriental Dance Style. Usankar has been in the
field since last fifty years.
Naresh Usankar, was
born August 4, 1938 in the village Manickpur in Thane district of
Maharashtra. He was the only son of his father, who worked with the
Associated Cement Company (ACC). After inter arts his father wanted
him to join some office as a clerk and he joined railway as a clerk.
According to his father that was the great achievement.
But Naresh Usankar,
had different ideas. He had secretly nurtured ambition of becoming a
Dancer since he had seen a ‘Shadow Play’ program of the great Guru
Uday Shankarji at Rang Bhawan, Mumbai. Spending the money meant for
typing classes, he learned the initial steps and postures of dancing
from first Guru Shridhar Parkar of Vasai clandestinely during the
school days. He made tremendous progress within a couple of years. Usankar
thereafter studied to Guru Parvatikumarji who trained him to be a
classical dancer. He joined Sachin Shankar Ballet while continuing his
college studies and employed in the Railways.
Then the inevitable
happened, he formed his own Ballet Troupe in 1965 with the blessings
of Late Yashwantraoji Chavan and Late Vasantraoji Naik (Chief Minister
of Maharashtra.) The beginning was auspicious. For the next five
years he blazed a trail path in this field. In 1967 Usankar Ballet
Troupe presented many performances in aid of Bihar Famine Relief.
In 1986 the Troupe was
selected to represent
Maharashtra in the cultural programme
on the Republic Day. The ‘TAKLA’ dance presented by Usankar in the
programme, won the President’s Gold Medal and the praise from all the
dignitaries and the National Leaders such as Late Prime Minister
Indira Gandhiji, Yashwantrao Chavan, President V V Giri, Prime
Minister of USSR Kosygin, and President Marshall Tito of
Yugoslavia.
Usankar repeated its triumph by winnign a medal of Maharashtra Float
on the Republic Day in the year 1969. This was the zenith in the
professional life of Shri Usankar. He had acquired 2 Medals in the
Republic Day, recognition and encouragement from State Leaders,
National Leaders as we as International Leaders.
Over the 50 years he
has produced many Dance Ballets like Ramayana, Natau-Wadh, Spider and
Fly, Dashavataar, Mahakali,. Bhasmasur-Mohini, Vighna-Hartaa etc.
themes based on from Puranas, Epics and History. Nowadays
entertainment is not considered as a Luxury, but a necessity and
nourishment to the mind. The relax mind is sometimes empty and may
become a devils workshop at this point keeping thoughts in mind. With
the motto of educating people through entertainment. Usankar composed
an attractive entertaining and very effective Dance Programme
Comprising of thaought provoking and eye-opener Dance Ballets like
“Sheer-Kamal”, “Jaag-Utho”, “Jwala” to educate people and to impress
them with the sense of Patriotism, National Integrity and sense of
duty among the Citizens of the Nation.
“Usankar is a man with
a mission. His ballet productions are examples of his views. He is an
artist, dedicating his work to the nation and he thinks that he must
share the responsibility for the development and progress of the
nation through the troupe. He is a true ambassador of the art,” opines
Gosavi, a senior journalist in Mumbai and editor-in-chief of Mumbai
Sandhya, a leading Marathi tabloid published from Mumbai.
Usankar is working
relentlessly in the field of dancing for the last 50 years imparting
social education through entertainment. He tours villages and cities
of our country with the troupe and also Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand,
Indonesia, Mauritius, Figi-Island, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong,
Phillipines. He has opened his dancing school in
Thailand
which is no small achievement.
Usankar also composed
many classical Dances live Shiv-Pooja, Chaitnya Shakti, Usha-kaal,
Basant Bahar, Saraswathi-Vandana, Radha-Krishna, Suraj Ki Kirane,
Shiv-Parvati Milan to name a few. And forceful & enchanting Folk
Dances like Bhangada (Punjab), Takla, Gokul (Govinda) & Bhill (Maharashtra),
Maria & Santhal (Madhya Pradesh), Behu (Assam), Holi (Uttar Pradesh),
Dholana (Rajasthan), Sangamam (South), Hangama (Gujarat) etc.
In the last 3 years
Usankar has produced three Ballates 1) Dance Ballet ‘Lord Buddha and
King Ashoka’ based on their lives.
Dance Ballet
‘Bhagwan Vardhaman Mahaveer’, Dance Ballet ‘Bhagwan Jhulelal Ki
Mahima’ on the life of incarnation of Lord Vishnu the Bhagwan
Jhulelal to spread the message of peace, truth, non-violence and
divine life without grief. It shows the importance of the values of
the teachings of these Deity. Dance Ballet ‘Sant Guru Ravidaas’
on the life of the brightest luminaries of the Bhakti movement of the
fifteenth century. The themes of these four ballets were Usankar’s
mind for the last few years and have now materialized in the form of
ballet.
In his career of 50
years in the field of ballet compositions Usankar had the help of
music composers like the versatile Vasant Desai, Vijay Raghavrao,
Dattaram Gadekar, K. Narayanan lent charms to his programme. Recorded
commentary by Brij Bhushan, Harish Bhimani and Gopal Sharma. In his
folk and classical Dances- songs are sung by Mahendra Kapoor, Suresh
Wadkar, Kavitha Krishnamurthy, Sadhana Sargam, Vinod Rathod, Shanker
Mahadevan, Shobha Mudgal and others.
He has trained so many
boys and girls from different social backgrounds. Usankar never
forced his children to toe his line but taught them the credit goes to
his strict disciplined training which compelled his family members
observe the painstaking ‘riyaz’.
Facing so many
difficulties, Usankar dreams of building a school ‘Kala-Kshetra’
without talking any aid from government Usankar is prepared to
confront any difficulties to fulfill this dream. The artists from all
castes and creed will be taught all the styles of Classical Dances and
oriental style, free of charge. During the same year, he plans to
construct a small experimental theatre to compose the dance ballets on
social problems and education.
His experience- good
and bad- will fill the Chapters. He was appreciate, felicities but got
nothing in concrete in the form of financial gains.
He has given 50 years
of his youth to the service of the Ballet. Being born in lower stratum
of society and caste wise his life mission has been giving though his
art a message of awakening of the people to the ultimate without
enmity.
Will his mission be
fulfilled? Whom can he approach for encouragement? To the fate, the
society or to government? Whose duty it is to guard our cultural
inheritance? Let us wait and see.
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