Renowned danseuse Amala Shankar passes away at 101 in Kolkata

Renowned danseuse Amala Shankar passed away on 24 July, in Kolkata. She was 101.The news of Amala Shankar’s death was shared by her granddaughter Sreenanda Shankar on Twitter.

Today my Thamma left us at the age of 101. We just celebrated her birthday last month.
Feeling so restless that there is no flight from Mumbai to Kolkata. Heartbroken 💔
May her soul Rest in peace. This is an end of an era. Love you Thamma. Thank you everything. #AmalaShankar pic.twitter.com/tDh2dkdRhn

— Sreenanda Shankar (@Sreenanda) July 24, 2020

According to a report by The Times of India , Amala was born on 27 June 1919 in Bangladesh. She was married to renowned dancer and choreographer Uday Shankar. Amala first met Uday when she was 11 years old. Uday was 19 years elder to her and she used to initially call him ‘Borda’ or elder brother.

A report by The Indian Express said that Amala learned to dance during the 1930s when women from “respectable households” had just started to perform classical dance on stage.

Amala met her guru and future husband for the first time in France in 1930 when she had accompanied her father Akshay Nandy at the International Colonial Exhibition in Paris. Uday was there with his troupe. Uday’s mother Hemangini Devi requested Amala’s father to leave her with the troupe.

Amala’s first performance was staged in Belgium in 1931. In 1939, she was with a dance group in Chennai when Uday came to her and proposed her for marriage. They both got married in 1942.

Amala also played the lead role in 1948 film Kalpana by Uday Shankar. The film is about a young dancer’s dreams of setting up a dance academy.The late dancer also walked the red carpet at prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

Amala was the mother of the late musician Ananda Shankar and acclaimed actress Mamata Shankar. She was the sister-in-law of musician and composer Ravi Shankar, who passed away in 2012.

The veteran dancer was awarded Banga Vibhushan by the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government in 2011 for her contributions to the field of art.