| ||||
| Bharatanatyam guru U.S. Krishna Rao passes away By KutcheriBuzz Staff / Chennai |   | |||
 Veteran Bharatanatyam guru U.S. Krishna Rao passed away on March 6, 2005, in Bangalore. He was 92. Prof. Krishna Rao and his wife, the late Chandrabhaga Devi were a leading dance couple, who propagated the art of Bharatanatyam in Karnataka. Born on 31 December 1912, in Mallapura, Karnataka, Krishna Rao commenced his dance training in the Mysore school of Bharatanatyam under Kolar Puttappa in 1939. He also learnt Kathakali from Guru Kunju Kurup in 1941-42. In 1943 Krishna Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi came under the tutelage of Pandanallur Meenakshisundaram Pillai in Thanjavur.
The dance duo performed widely and choreographed dance-dramas like The Temptation of Buddha, Rani Shantala, Geeta Govinda and Kama Dahana. They established 'Maha Maya' in Bangalore in 1942, to train students in Bharatanatyam. Well versed in playing the flute, tabla and harmonium, Krishna Rao has trained several musicians for dance as well. He has also authored books on dance like 'Adhunika Bharatadalli Nritya Kale' and 'Bharata Natya Nighantu' in Kannada, a Dictionary of Bharata Natya and 'A Panorama of Indian Dances' in English. A lecturer in Chemistry, Krishna Rao was also a cricketer. Recently he made a brief appearance in the role of a traditional nattuvanar in the film, 'Dance like a Man', released in 2004. Krishna Rao and his wife were recipients of awards like the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi award, Karnataka Sangeet Nritya Academy award, Nritya Kala Siromani, Rajyotsava Award, Shantala Award and the E. Krishna Iyer Medal. Some of Krishna Rao's disciples, who are internationally acclaimed dancers today include Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy (first student to make her debut), Sonal Mansingh, Chairperson, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Mamata Niyogi-Nakra, Founder-President, Kala Bharati, Montreal, Canada, among others. Krishna Rao is survived by his two sons. If you knew the dance guru and have anecdotes to share, mail them to editor@kutcheribuzz.com You can also mail condolence messages. Your message will be posted here. Here are the messages we received at KutcheriBuzz: I am speaking of 1942. USK was a lecturer in Chemistry in Central College, Bangalore and I was doing my Honours in Geology. He was the Sports Secretary as well while I was one of the Basket Ball players of the college team. He arranged a sports tour of South India and we, as a team of 20 boys, travelled all over South, with fixtures of matches in the main centers of the South. We had a merry time and he mixed with us as one of our own age group. We happened to visit Kerala and he arranged a demonstration lecture on Bharatanatyam by Gopinath and he also demonstrated some features of Bharatanatyam; I had the privilege of keeping up the time for his dance...great times, they were... BRC Iyengar The passing away of Prof U.S. Krishna Rao is indeed a great loss to the world of dance. When his son Jaydev sent me an e-mail about his health and mentioned that the doctors had informed him that it was a matter of a day or two, we were all very sad. Whenever I visited Bangalore I met him without fail. I had known him from 1958 when I saw him and met him for the first time, conducting the demonstration of some aspects of Bharatanatyam by his prize pupil Sudharani (Raghupathy) during the historic All India Dance Seminar, convened by the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi in April 1958. He was a handsome man with a commanding stage presence, well dressed in his sherwani. We came much closer when he visited Mumbai and I had arranged at Bhulabhai Memorial Institute Terrace Theatre in Mumbai, his lecture demonstration in 1964. By then Sonal Mansingh (nee Pakvasa) had started performing Bharatanatyam as his disciple and drawing attention of the connoisseurs and critics. So Prof. Krishna Rao and I came much closer as Sonal and I used to give lecture demonstrations on dance in Mumbai during that period. Thanks to Ram Gopal, Natarajan (who married Maya Rao) and BVK Sastry our meetings turned into life long friendship. I stayed with him and Chandrabhaga Devi at their residence in Bangalore whenever I visited Bangalore, and he would talk about the glorious days of yore when he studied Bharatanatyam under Thatha, Pandnallur Meenakshisundaram Pillai. He and his sons accepted me as one of the members of 'their inner circle'. I used to address him as 'Krishna' and not as 'sir' or 'guru-ji', and he never minded it. Whenever I visited London and on return brought all the good news of and from Ram Gopal, he used to feel very happy. He was an erudite man. When I was writing my book on Bharatanatyam published by Dr Mulk Raj Ananda for Marg Publications, Krishna Rao helped me a lot. Sudharani was also in Bangalore and she guided me to visit Kitappa's residence from where I collected the portraits of the Tanjore Quartette, which were published for the first time. Krishna Rao also gave me exquisite photographs of him as Shiva and Chandrabhaga as Parvati. I have those prints in my collection. They look like a divine couple. Thanks to Mohan Khokar, BVK Sastry, Natarajan and Ram Gopal, our friendsip sustained over several years. When I visited Montreal in 1980, I met Mamata Niyogi Nakra, Krishna Rao's another disciple. I had not known her nor Krishna Rao had mentioned anything about her. But when I met her and saw her work, I was deeply impressed. On my return from abroad I told Krishna Rao about Mamata and he was very pleased. Thanks to his wide circle of disciples I enriched myself with dear friends like Mamata and her husband Bans (Harbans) and their Kala Bharati students. And I have now a home away from home in Montreal with Mamata and Bans as my dear friends. Krishnarao always expressed great affection and respect for Mamata's talents and gifts. When Kathak dancers of yore the Poovaiah Sisters moved permanently to Bangalore from Mumbai, I used to stay with them. They were staying near Krisna Rao's residence. So I got them togather by arranging a get together and I have those happy memories of spending lovely time together reminiscing their early experiences of dancing way back in the early forties. There are some photogrpahs also taken at that time. Now that Krishnarao is gone and so are the Poovaiah Sisters and Natarajan and BVK Sastry Bangalore is not going to be the same for so many of us. Krishnarao and Chandrabhagadevi were pride of Bangalore. They had ushered in a new era in the world of dance and were a role model for the next generation. Their contribution to the cultural growth of the Bangalore city is immense. Their art was imbued with a sense of inquiry and great respect for the tradition. They were proud inheritors of a great art and passed it on to their innumerable disciples world over. I feel privileged to have known them. Dance Historian and scholar Sunil Kothari I am deeply touched by the news of Sri U.S. Krishna Rao's passing. My late husband Professor. V. Subramaniam has enjoyed friendship with him. They both liked each other a great deal and was referred to by friends as "mutual admiration society". SriKrishna Rao was the first dancer to stage Prof. Subramaniam's 'Sanghamitra' in 1975 in Bangalore. He performed the Asoka Sanghamitra Samvad scene with his disciple Sheila Rao. Later of course V.P. Dhananjayan and Shanta performed it at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa before Bharat Kalanjali taking it to the whole world. Jaya Subramaniam "Guruji" as we always referred to him, is a man of principle and purity of thoughts. Having known him closely for almost forty years now, his passing away creates a vacuum in our hearts. He was indeed an inspiration to all male Bharatanatyam artistes and his undiluted encouragement to professionals lead Mysore State to produce a galaxy of excellent Male Bharatanatyam artistes. Guruji was like a beacon light to the performing art world in Bangalore and he missed no performances of others , whether young or old to say a few words of wisdom and bless them. Whenever we performed in Bangalore, he was always there in the front row and seeing him there with his ever smiling face gave us the pep to perform perfect and better. A man of substance with full of humour and humility, divinity with dignity. He never waited for any one to go to him, he would come to you without any reservation, being the senior most in the field. His passing away is a great loss to the performing arts field . V.P.Dhananjayan What Udayshankar did in North India and Rukmini Devi Arundale in South India for the renaissance of Bharatanatya, was done by Prof. U.S.Krishna Rao in Karnataka. Handsome, well built and hailing from a highly cultured family, placed in a highly respectable teaching profession, he sacrificed everything for the sake of Bharatanatya, braving not only the taboo attached to it but also the wrath of the society. He grew like a colossal. Along with his wife Chadamma (Chandrabhagadevi, as fondly addressed by him), he became a performer, choreographer, teacher, guide par excellence. 'Maha May', the school of dance founded by the couple celebrated its golden jubilee in a grand manner. Needless to say, many dancer-gems were produced by the couple under their banner. A significant link in the history of Bharatanatya is cut with the sad demise of Prof. U.S. Krishna Rao. Dr.M. Surya Prasad
USK was a very friendly dance personality. A close friend of my Guru HR Keshavamurthy, USK has graced most of our dance school programmes.He used to encourage the young artistes and will always remain in our hearts forever. Rohini Iyer
| ||||