Uday Shankar

Uday Shankar, brother of the influential sitar player Ravi Shankar, left an enduring imprint on Indian dance through his dual roles as performer and choreographer. He founded his own troupe of Hindu dancers in March 1931 and supported numerous aspiring Indian artists in mastering their discipline. After completing formal studies at the J.J. School of the Arts in Bombay, he advanced his training at the Royal College of Art in London. There he staged the ballets Krishna and Radha and A Hindu Wedding, which both opened at Covent Garden in September 1923, while also collaborating with Anna Pavlova until 1924. His return to India in 1929 soon led to the assembly of another dance company that toured the United States regularly from 1932 into the 1960s. Intent on transmitting his understanding of dance and theater to younger practitioners, he launched the Uday Shankar Indian Culture Center in Almora, Uttar Pradesh, in 1938. The school closed during World War II yet reopened in 1965 as the Uday Shankar Centre of Dance, where his widow now oversees an expansive curriculum encompassing folk and classical dance, improvisation, costume design, and theatrical makeup.