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Samachar.com - The bookmark for the Global Indian.The Hindu,News

She takes Sambalpuri to new heights Shyamhari Chakra

BHUBANESWAR: For Gurubari, it was a brief footwork on the streets of New Delhi 39 years ago. But for the seductive Sambalpuri dance, it was a giant leap forward.

If the dance has gained global recognition today, much credit goes to Gurubari Mirdha, the tribal woman from Bargarh’s non-descript Gandpali village, whose performance at the Republic Day parade in 1968 attracted former prime Indira Gandhi to join her.

And the rest was history. The photograph showing Gurubari dancing alongside Ms.Gandhi at the historic event got massive coverage in the media, thereby bringing the obscure Sambalpuri dance of those times to international limelight.

“Sambalpuri dance was considered vulgar and the women who wished to practise it were looked down upon. But after the State Government brought out a special calendar using the photo following the widespread publicity, people started accepting it as a dignified dance,” recalled the lady who used to dance braving all odds that inspired scores of women to dabble in dancing later on.

Gurubari’s pioneering contributions to the popularisation of Sambalpuri dance, however, did not bring her any fortune.

A few years later, she was forgotten both by the dancers and the government. And she still survives and feeds her ailing and old husband as a daily wage earner like most of the villagers.

The governments at the Centre and here have not considered her worthy of an artist’s pension. Al that she was offered was a felicitation by the district administration at the Bargarh folk festival.