Exhibition, dance performances mark centenary celebration of dance historian Mohan Khokar

New Delhi, Sep 18 (PTI) A series of dance performances and a collection of rare and original posters, press clips, artefacts and books featuring some of the most prominent Indian dancers at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) marked the birth centenary of art connoisseur Mohan Khokar who shaped the course of Indian dance history.  Organised by critic and historian Ashish Khokar, the exhibition, titled “The A to Z of Indian Dance - Vignettes of Veterans”, opened here on Thursday with a ceremonial performance by 25 dancers of the Indian Revival Group, presenting Odissi, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam, Manipuri and Kathak.

The event was attended by former Rajya Sabha MP and Bharatanatyam dancer Sonal Mansingh, musicologist Bharat Gupt, former MP Karan Singh, and hotelier Aman Nath along with luminaries of dance and music, including Sharon Lowen, Shovana Narayan, Ranjana Gauhar, Madhavi Mudgal, and Vanashree Rao.

“I first met Mohan ji in 1966 at the Sangeet Natak Akademi, introduced by my mother. From the very beginning, I saw in him a man of discipline and unwavering ethics, with a heart of gold. His remarkable collection is a treasure of our cultural history, and I sincerely hope it finds expression in a dedicated film so that it reaches many more people beyond the museum,” Mansingh said.  Born in 1924 in Balochistan (now in Pakistan), Khokar was attracted to Indian classical dance from an early age, especially Bharatanatyam, after seeing a performance by dancer-choreographer Ram Gopal in Lahore. The attraction led him to join Rukmini Devi Arundale’s Kalakshetra in Chennai in 1940.

According to Dance Archives of India, created by his son Ashish Khokar, his association with the performing arts led him to be the founding head of the Department of Dance at M S University in Baroda, Gujarat, at the age of 24.  In eight decades of his life, he authored over 5,000 articles, edited and contributed to journals like Marg, Pushpanjali, The Illustrated Weekly of India, Sruti and AttenDance.

Khokar collected books, journals, prospectus, brochures, posters, postage stamps, sculptures, including Chola bronzes, and paintings related to dance.  The collection at IGNCA, now titled “The Mohan Khokar Dance Collection (MKDC)”, is the “single largest holding” on dance, comprising over 1,00,000 photos, 50,00,000 press clips, and 5,000 books.  “When we think of the outreach of academics of dance, there are many universities that are teaching. And it was Mohan ji again as the founder head of dance department in Baroda University, MSU in 1949. Because he went to Kalakshetra, he had both theory and practice.

"That course was set 75 years ago and it’s still continuing unchanged and other universities are following it. Those masters who left us with this material, other than the physicality of it and the conceptual frame of it, we are very grateful,” Ashish Khokar, curator of MKDC, said.  The MKDC gallery at IGNCA will remain open to the public till December 30.

The event also saw the launch of the silver jubilee edition of AttenDance (2025) with the theme “Indian Dance in France”, featuring 70 dancers and institutions. PTI MAH MAH MAH