I am indeed happy to participate in the foundation stone laying function of Uday Shankar Academy for Dance and Music. Shri Uday Shankar who gave an altogether new and wholesome definition to Indian dance and music, was born in 1900 in Rajasthan. He is widely accepted as the Father of Modern Dance in India. Having been gifted with a wide vision, he was able to appreciate the wonderful variety and scope of expression afforded by different classical and folk dance forms of our country and incorporate them into unique artistic expressions resulting in an enriched danced vocabulary of the highest level of excellence. A veritable pioneer of renaissance in Indian arts during the 1930s and 1940s, he was wholly instrumental in introducing Indian dance forms and music to the western world, earning for them world-wide acclaim, respect and admiration. That Uday Shankar did not have any formal training in any of the schools of classical dancing and yet could carve a niche for himself in the world of art, particularly in these art forms in eloquent testimony to the fact that he was a born genius. After making a name for himself, worldwide, a wish to establish an ideal Cultural Centre in the lap of Himalayas, inspired him to choose Almora as his work place. During his stay in Almora between 1940 and 1944, he started his famous Cultural Centre (Dance School).

His greatest contribution has been to take the essence of various dance traditions and techniques and combine them into an integrated new form that was at once vibrant, novel, a beauty to behold and an elevating experience to comprehend.

I am extremely happy that the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India in cooperation with the Government of Uttaranchal is setting up an Academy of dance and music at this place in the name and memory of the legendary Uday Shankar. I feel privileged to lay the foundation stone for it today. May this venture blossom forth into a full-fledged cultural center that would act as a catalyst for sustained rejuvenation of various art forms in our country.

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