Guru

ValmikiBanerjee

ReinventingRabindic StyleofDancing

Born in Barisal, East Bengal (now Bangladesh) in the year 1926, Valmiki came from a culturally oriented middle class family, dancing was not considered a respectable profession for males in those days. After completing his school education in his native town Barisal, Valmiki came to Calcutta in the year 1944 and joined “The Oriental School of Music” where he happened to meet the renowned dancer Guru Jaydev Chatterjee. His other gurus were Prabhat Mishra, Tarachanda and Guru Sohanlal (Kathak). He started helping Guru Jaydev in his various choreographic assignments. Valmiki even got the opportunity to dance for several Bengali films like Meghadoot and Sri Tulsidas shot in the Calcutta studios. Eventually, he worked as the Assistant Director (Dance) for the Bengali film Pandit Moshai. Since Valmiki aspired to become a more versatile dancer, he left Calcutta in the year 1948 and came to Madras. With the opening of Kalakshetra where renowned Gurus taught classical dancing, Madras was then considered the dance capital of India. He learned Kathakali under Guru Gopinath and also learned the techniques of forming a ballet from him. He earned excellence in many Vidhas. He taught Kathak, Odissi, Bharatnatyam, Kathakali and Kuchipudi to his students He teaches many folk forms to his students also. His methodology of understanding a dance is different from others and he is never concerned only to the field. He used to analyze a dance form deeply and come up with his own findings. His journey of learning and teaching is never ended. He was like in the search of something. This quest did not let him sit quietly any longer. Observing his unsatisfied thirst of searching something his Guru Jayadeb Chatterji suggested him to search in his own surroundings. He says do not go too far, do not wander here and there; you will get in your surroundings whatever you are searching for. He took his Guru’s words as a sign from God. This is how he got the direction.