Astad Deboo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Astad Deboo
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Deboo in 2009
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| Born | 13 July 1947 Navsari, Gujarat, British India
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| Died | 10 December 2020 (aged 73) Mumbai, India
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| Nationality | Indian |
| Dances | Contemporary dance – fusion of Kathak and Kathakali |
Astad Deboo (born 13 July 1947 – died 10 December 2020) was a famous Indian dancer and choreographer. He was known for creating his own unique style of modern dance. Many people saw him as a pioneer, meaning he was one of the first to do something new in Indian dance.
During his career, Astad Deboo worked with many different artists. These included famous dancers like Pina Bausch and Alison Becker Chase. He even collaborated with the music band Pink Floyd! He performed his amazing dances all over the world.
Astad Deboo received two big awards from the Government of India. He got the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1996. Later, in 2007, he was given the Padma Shri, which is one of India's highest civilian honors.
Contents
Early Life and Dance Beginnings
Astad Deboo was born on 13 July 1947. His family was Parsi, and they lived in Navsari, a city in Gujarat, India. He spent his early childhood in Kolkata.
When he was six years old, his family moved to Jamshedpur. There, his father worked for Tata Steel. Astad had two sisters, Kamal and Gulshan.
At the age of six, Astad started learning Kathak. This is a classical Indian dance form. His teachers were Indra Kumar Mohanty and Prahlad Das. He went to Loyola School, Jamshedpur. After finishing school in 1964, he moved to Mumbai. He then studied commerce at Podar College, which is part of the University of Mumbai.
Astad Deboo's Dance Journey
While studying in Mumbai, Astad Deboo saw a performance by the American Murray Louis Dance Company. This show really inspired him. Soon after, an artist named Uttara Asha Coorlawala helped him. She was studying dance in New York.
In 1969, Astad Deboo left Mumbai on a cargo boat. He traveled across Europe by hitchhiking. Finally, he reached New York in 1974. There, he joined the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance.
Over the next ten years, he learned many different dance styles. He studied at the London School of Contemporary Dance. He learned Martha Graham's modern dance technique. He also learned José Limón's technique in New York.
Astad Deboo trained with Pina Bausch in Germany. He also worked with Alison Becker Chase of the Pilobolus Dance Company. He traveled a lot, visiting Europe, the Americas, Japan, and Indonesia.
When he returned to India in 1977, he studied Kathakali. This is another classical Indian dance form. He learned from Guru E. Krishna Panikar in Thiruvalla, Kerala. He even performed at the famous Guruvayur Temple.
All these different experiences helped him create his own unique dance style. It was a mix of Indian classical dance and Western modern dance techniques.
Amazing Collaborations
A big moment in his career happened in 1986. A famous fashion designer, Pierre Cardin, asked him to create a dance. This dance was for Maya Plisetskaya, a top ballerina from the Bolshoi Theatre.
Over the years, Astad Deboo worked with many different artists and groups.
- He collaborated with the band Pink Floyd in London.
- He worked with the Gundecha Brothers, who are famous Indian classical singers.
- He also worked with the Thang-Ta martial art dancers and Pung cholom dancers from Manipur.
He spent several years working with Tim McCarthy at Gallaudet University in Washington. This university is for deaf students. They created a show called "Road Signs." This show toured India in 1995. It featured dancers from Gallaudet and Astad Deboo's Indian students.
In 2005, Astad Deboo performed at the 20th Annual Deaflympics in Australia. He performed with 12 young women who had hearing impairment. They were from the Clarke School for the Deaf in Chennai. These dancers were part of his Astad Deboo Dance Foundation.
He also choreographed the dances for a Hindi film in 2004. The film was called Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities. In 2009, he performed a show called 'Breaking Boundaries'. He performed with fourteen street children from the NGO Salaam Baalak Trust. These children had trained with his dance group for six months.
In 2019, he worked with Hema Rajagopalan, Sikkil Gurucharan, and George Brooks. They performed a show called "INAI" with the Natya Dance Theatre in Chicago.
Death
Astad Deboo passed away in Mumbai on 10 December 2020. He was 73 years old.
Awards
- 1995: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
- 2007: Padma Shri
See also
In Spanish: Astad Deboo para niños
- List of dancers
