Guru Mayadhar Raut is a renowned exponent of which dance form?

Explanation

Guru Mayadhar Raut (born 1930) was one of the four great gurus who revived and reconstructed Odissi, the classical dance of Odisha, in the 1950s and 1960s, along with Kelucharan Mohapatra, Pankaj Charan Das and Deba Prasad Das.

Mayadhar Raut was born in Odisha and began his career as a gotipua dancer, the tradition in which young boys dress as girls and dance in praise of Lord Jagannath. He later trained under several gurus and also studied Bharatanatyam and Kathakali at Kalakshetra in Chennai, which broadened his understanding of dance. He played an important role in the Jayantika association, which brought together gurus and scholars to study the old traditions and to give Odissi a clear structure and grammar. He is especially known for his contribution to the vocabulary of abhinaya (expression) in Odissi, and for developing the "sanchari bhava" (the elaboration of emotions) in his choreography of the verses of the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva. He moved to Delhi in the 1970s and taught Odissi at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, where he trained many dancers. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Padma Shri (2010).

Odissi is known for its two basic postures: the chauka, a square stance that represents Lord Jagannath, and the tribhanga, a graceful posture with three bends in the body. A typical Odissi recital includes Mangalacharan, Batu, Pallavi, Abhinaya and Moksha. The name "Odissi" was proposed by the scholar Kavichandra Kalicharan Pattanayak.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Kathakali is the dance-drama of Kerala, linked with artists such as Kalamandalam Gopi.
• ✗Kuchipudi is the classical dance of Andhra Pradesh, linked with Vempati Chinna Satyam.
• ✗Bharatanatyam is the classical dance of Tamil Nadu, linked with Rukmini Devi Arundale.
• ✗Good to know
• ✗Mayadhar Raut studied some of these forms, but he is known as an Odissi guru.