Astad Deboo Biography 
Astad Deboo is an Indian contemporary dancer and choreographer who creates classical dance forms taking Indian elements from Kathak to Kathakali. His uniqueness in choreography makes him one of the pioneers of modern Indian dance forms. He has performed in many parts of the world and has associated with world class artists like Pina Bausch, Alison Becker Chase and Pink Floyd. Indian government honoured him with Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1996 and Padma Shri in 2007, for his overall contributions to contemporary Indian dance forms.
Deboo was born in July 13, 1947 at Navsari, Gujarat. But he was brought up in Kolkata. At the age of 6, the family shifted to Jamshedpur, where father was employed with Tata Steel. He has two sisters. At the age of six, he started learning the Kathak. Indra Kumar Mohanty and Prahlad Das were his Kathak teachers. He passed out from the Loyola School, Jamshedpur in 1964. He moved to Mumbai to study B. com. from Podar College, University of Mumbai. It was during this time when he got attracted to contemporary art forms. He happened to see the contemporary dance of the American Murray Louis Dance Company, which changed his mindset forever. Thus he decided to choose art as his career.
He joined Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance with the help of Uttara Asha Coorlawala. After that he joined London School of Contemporary Dance where he learnt Martha Graham’s modern dance technique and also learnt Jose Limon’s technique in New York. He also received training from a few more people and performed also before he returned to India in 1977. Once returned, he learnt Kathakali under Guru E. Krishna Panikar, in Thiruvalla and did his arangettam at Guruvayur. Later he used all these training techniques to create an art of his own unique style.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 05, 2014
