Shama Bhate

Guru Shama Bhate (Marathi: शमा भाटे)(born 6 October 1950) also known as Shama Tai, is among the Kathak exponents in India today. Her career spans over 38 years and she has been learning and performing Kathak from the age of 4 and has been a teacher and is involved with choreography and training many Kathak dancers in India. She is also the artistic director of her Dance Academy Nadroop^[1] in Pune.

Personal life

Guru Shama Bhate was born in Belgaum (now Belagavi) on the 6 October 1950. Born to Smt Gulab Baisa Naik and Sri Ganagadhar G Naik. She is married to Sanat Bhate, who is the son of Guru Rohini Bhate, in 1974 and has a son Angad Bhate.

Training

Guru Shama Bhate is the principal disciple and daughter in law ^[2] of Guru Smt. Rohini Bhate.^[3] She has also had her training from Kathak Samrat Pt. Birju Maharaj and Pt. Mohan Rao Kallianpurkar. Her idiom of Kathak dance which has been developed over many years of learning's from the above-mentioned gurus and from self learning has led to a blending, which has special inputs in ‘Taal’ and ‘Laya’, from tabla taal maestro and exponent Pt. Suresh Talwalkar.

Guru Shama Bhate - Workshop

Over the years, Guru Shama Bhate has trained numerous professional Kathak Dancers who are performing and teaching independently both in India and abroad. She is also on the board of many universities and functions as one of the senior Guru’s in Lalit Kala Kendra of Pune University, Nalanda College of Mumbai University, Bharat College of Nagpur University, Bharati Vidyapeeth in Pune. Under her guidance, more than thirty of her students have acquired a post-graduate degree from various universities and as many as 12 students have been awarded the HRDC National scholarship (for senior students), and also CCERT scholarship (for junior students).

Choreographic Work

Guru Shama Bhate’s choreographic work is extensive.^[4] She has experimented with both traditional^[5] as well as contemporary format of Kathak. She has created a repertoire of traditional and classical compositions –Taals, Taranas, Thumris etc. with her own perspective. For instance, Trishul (a blend of Taal cycles of 9, 10 and 11 beats); Samvaad (domuhi composition), Layasopan (traditional Kathak sequence presented through Panch Jatis). A more recent production from 2015 saw her drawing inspiration from the Indian Epic Mahabaratha and created the “Ateet ki Parchhaiyan - Reflections on the Mahabharata Saga”^[6] with dancers performing 7 different Indian classical and Indian folk dance forms. Another choreography that was performed by her students from Nadroop during the occasion of the 85th birthday celebration of the singer Lata Mangeshkar, was the dance ballet 'Chala Vahi Des'.^[7]

See also

• List of Kathak dancers

References

External links