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Sanjukta Panigrahi: Dancer for the Gods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

Abstract

The great classical Indian dancer and co-founder of the International School of Theatre Anthropology, Sanjukta Panigrahi, died in June 1997. An outstanding exponent – and virtually the rediscoverer – of Odissi dance, Sanjukta Panigrahi was born in Orissa into a Brahmin family, and defied the prejudice of her caste as the first girl to pursue Odissi dance as a career. With the support of her family, she began studying at the age of five under the guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, with whom she worked for many years, and also trained in Bharata Natyam for six years with the master Rukmini Devi. Julia Varley, an Odin Teatret actress since 1977, knew and worked with Sanjukta for twenty years, and in the following article offers her memories and reconstruction of the experiences of apprenticeship, performance, technique, cultural exchange, teaching, and family and work relationships, both in India and within the multicultural context of ISTA. Sanjukta's own descriptions of her life and work, drawn from a wide variety of sources, are interspersed throughout the article, in an attempt to keep alive this remarkable actress/dancer's way of thinking and being, coloured by her particular female strength. Julia Varley was born in London in 1954, spent her childhood in Milan, joined Odin in 1976, and has been a participant in the ISTA sessions since their conception in 1980.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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References

The words of Sanjukta, are edited from the interview printed in Savvy (Bombay: Magma Publications), 01 1996; from her speech at the symposium ‘Theatre in a Multicultural Society’ during the tenth session of ISTA, Copenhagen, May 1996; from her speech at the ISTA in Bologna in 1990, entitled ‘Cinque maestri’ (‘Five Masters’), published in Teatro Eurasiano, No. 2, ‘Tecniche della rappresentazione e storiografia’, ed. Gerardo Guccini and Cristina Valenti (Bologna: Biblioteca Universale Synergon Bologna, 1992); from the work demonstration presented during the ISTA session ‘The Female Role’ in Holstebro in 1986; from the book by Sunil Kothari and Avinash Pasricha, Odissi: Indian Classical Dance Art (Bombay: Marg Publications, 1990); and from personal conversations.Google Scholar
The words of Devi, Rukmini are taken from her speech ‘Indian Dance’ (Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1955).Google Scholar
The words of Taviani, Nando are taken from his piece ‘Ricordi e altre allegrezze: cronache e disgressioni dall' International School of Theatre Anthropology’ (Teatro Tascabile of Bergamo, 1995).Google Scholar
The words of Schino, Mirella are taken from her article ‘Sakuntala fra gli ulivi’, Teatro Eurasiano, No. 3, Drammaturgia dell'attore, ed. de Marinis, Marco (Bologna: I Quaderni del Battello Ebbro, 1996), and in Asian Theatre Journal, XIII, No. 1 (Spring 1996).Google Scholar