Source: Ridwan Adid Rupon

Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore is best known as a poet and philosopher. However, his creative talent extended well beyond this, to music, to painting, and to dance. Tagore had his own distinct and original dance form- Rabindranrittya.
“Between the years of 1919 to the year of 1924, Rabindranath Tagore journeyed regularly all over India and overseas. At Shantiniketan, under his assistance, performers consumed motions from Kandyan, Javanese, and European dances,” says Sharmila Bandyopadhyay, Eminent dancer-choreographer. The poet was interested in the independence of activity in European modern and impressionist dance.
 “Even though he combined dances from all around the world, starting from Russian Ballet to dances from Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the one thing Tagore believed in mostly was simplicity,” says Sharmila. She adds, “Because there's a lot of dances combined, the beauty of Rabindranrittya is the freedom to choreograph. But with the freedom comes a lot of responsibility-- the responsibility of staying true to Tagore.”
Sharmila has been practicing, teaching and performing Rabindranrittya ever since she came back from India in the early 1980's, graduating from Shantiniketon. “Because of the freedom in Rabindranrittya, I could involve movements from Chhow, Kathakali, Kolpotoru in one dance, and movements of Bharatanatyam, Manipura and Ballet in another,” says Sharmila. “But even though Rabindranrittya has always been a part of our culture, and even though we have the liberty to mould it to our comfort, what I see nowadays is people trying to modernise Rabindranrittya. With the involvement of acrobatics and gymnastics, the dances have become very complex and it is now all about that. This, of course, takes away the simplicity that Rabindranath had always cherished in his art.”

Apart from the simplicity, Rabindranath believed in describing the music through dance. His dance involves mostly rhythm and expression. With too much movement, or too many mudras, the essence of Rabindranrittya is taken away.

Sharmila concludes by stating, “I don't think there is any need at all for us to modernise Rabindranath. He was always modern and way ahead of his time. I think even a 100 years from now, nothing that Rabindranath has brought into our world will be considered 'old fashioned'. He was a man of all generations, all ages, and all centuries. He knew the future. There's nothing to advance.”