Puru Dadheech


Puru Dadheech is a famous and recognized Indian Kathak dancer. He is a well known choreographer and educator of Indian classical dance, and is known for his pioneering work in the field of Kathak. He has been awarded with the fourth highest civilian award of india ThePadma Shri and India’s highest award to a performing artist given by the president The Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his contributions to Performing arts. Dr. Pt. Puru Dadheech had served as Professor and Head of the Dance Department at Bhatkhande University, Lucknow, and as Dean, Faculty of Arts, at Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwa Vidyalaya, Khairagarh, teaching and guiding several research scholars for their doctoral thesis. At the oldest Kathak department which was formed in 1956 at Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya Public University located in Khairagarh, Dr. Puru Dadheech instated the first Kathak syllabus in 1961. He is the holder of the first Doctorate in Kathak Classical Dance and emphasizes the relevance of Shastras in the Kathak repertoire. Dr Puru Dadheech is considered as the back bone and the father of the education system of kathak.

Education

Puru Dadheech is the first Doctorate in Kathak in the world. Research dissertation Kathak Nritya ka Udbhav aur Vikas by Prayag Sangeet Samiti
He is the first ever dancer to receive the Mahamahopadhyay from Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal.
Apart from the first Sangeetacharya in Kathak, he also has a PhD in Sanskrit Dramatics from Vikram University, Ujjain. His PHD was on the topic Sanskrit Prayog Vigyan Evam Kalidasiya Rupak which has been published as a book.
He has also studied under Guru-Shishya Parampara under Gurus Pt. Durga Prasad, Pt. Sunder Prasad as well as Pt. Narayan Prasad

Personal Life

Puru Dadheech was born to a traditional pauranik brahmin family of Ujjain. He is married to famous senior kathak guru and researcher Dr Vibha Dadheech. He has 2 sons. His younger son Pratyush Dadhich, famously known as Tush Dadheech is an artist manager and organiser of Traditional Indian artists and art forms and is credited to launch many newcomers.

Career

Puru Dadheech has developed the first ever Kathak syllabus books which are instated in Kathak department of various universities.
Dr. Dadheech was close to Senior Kathak exponent and Guru Pt. Mohanrao Kallianpurkar and succeeded him at Bhatkhande Music Institute Deemed University.
In the past Dr. Dadheech has been an editor for Swarn Jayanti Smarika Golden Jubilee Magazine of Bhatkhande Hindustani Sangeet Mahavidyala.
He has participated in many seminars and given talks such as talk on "Kalidasa and Natya Sashtra" at Birla Academy, Kolkata.
He has been on various editorial committee such as National Conference- "Innovation in Music And Dance" organized at Dept. Music And Dance, Govt. Maharani Laxmibai Girls P.G. college, Indore
He has been a Mentor and Guide to several students doing Masters and Doctorate degrees in Kathak since 1988.

Awards

Dr. Dadheech has written many scholarly books which are also assigned as syllabus textbooks at Kathak departments of Universities. Some titles are:
Dr. Puru Dadheech is the only Kathak artist in India to have specially written and composed the Naayak Bheda – different types of heroes as well as conducting a workshop on rare compositions like 'Dashavatar' and 'Dhrupad' in 'Bhrama taal'.

Re-instating Dhrupad in Kathak

Dr. Dadheech is India's first Kathak dancer to bring back Dhrupad to the formal Kathak stage and this composition in 28 matra. Shankar Pralayankar, his Dhrupad composition, has the unique status of regularly being sung in concerts by 'Dhrupad' maestros the Gundecha Brothers.
For the first time in 1981, Dr. Dadheech choreographed and danced the ancient Nritya style of Dhrupad that he performed in Mathura. He has researched and written an article titled Dhrupad Nartan Ki Parampara.
In 2013 ITC Sangeet Research Academy has conducted Dhrupad Seminar in association with National Centre for the Performing Arts where Dr. Puru Dadheech participated as speaker to discuss Origin of Dhrupad Evolving into different Banis and PROPAGATION OF DHRUPAD - During the reign of Mansingh Tomar and others. Dr. Puru Dadheech, discussed the origin of Dhrupad at length and established that Dhrupads are older than the times of Raja Mansingh Tomar.

80th Birthday Celebrations

Dr. Dadheech’s 80th Birthday celebrations on 17 July 2019 started with a National Seminar on the topic ‘Contributions of Dr Puru Dadheech in the field of Dance, Literature and Shastras’ at Indore city. The chairperson for this seminar was Padma Shri Shovana Narayan. The Gundecha Brothers paid a tribute by singing three Dhrupad written by Dr. Puru Dadheech himself.
At the conference various speakers highlighted facets of Dr. Puru Dacheech. Such as Dr. Purnima Pandey highlighted the progress in Kathak dance in terms of teaching and formulating Kathak syllabus, his fine skills in teaching and rich compositions that Dr. Dadheech had institutionalized during his 15 year tenure at Bhatkhande Sangeet Mahavidhyalaya Lucknow. Dr. Sandhya Purecha appreciated the course on Bharat’s Natyashastra that Dr. Dadheech has recently curated with relevancy to Kathak dance. Critic Manjari Sinha mentioned how Dr. Dadheech taught children the art of drawing and ended up not only learning professional dance but also teaching it as well.