Zohra Segal's Shankar-Style Choreography in Neecha Nagar (Hindi, 1946)

For some time the only thing I knew about Zohra Segal was that she was an adorable elderly woman who had small roles in a lot of recent Hindi films. Then I learned that Zohra's life has been one of path-breaking excitement! From her burqa-clad beginnings in an orthodox Muslim family, she moved from one adventure to the next: training in Mary Wigman's famous modern dance school in Germany, dancing as a core member of Uday Shankar's troupe, marrying the Hindu Kameshwar Segal (aka Sehgal, Seghal, Saigal), choreographing dances for films and theatre, and finally acting, her greatest love, first on the stage with Prithviraj Kapoor's company and the IPTA and then later on the silver screen and television series such as The Jewel in the Crown.

Zohra w/ Ravi Shankar, Paris, 1937 (source)

Zohra's dance background and involvement with Uday Shankar's artistic legacy is fascinating and helps fill in some gaps in the data. After Shankar's wild success with Simkie in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he returned to India and added more Indians to his troupe including Zohra who became as prominent a dancer as Simkie. The period was fruitful with significant choreographies, touring, and finally the opening of Shankar's dance school in Almora in the late 1930s. Zohra's teaching and organizational skills learned in Germany proved influential in her role as the Almora school's main teacher and creator of the institution's syllabus [3]. But in the mid-1940s, Shankar's desire to devote all his energies towards making a dance film caused conflict with the long-time members like Simkie and Zohra [1]. Around this time Zohra left the dance school with fellow Almora dancer Kameshwar Segal whom she had married [3]. Due to internal conflict as well as external factors, the Almora dance school abruptly closed in 1944 and Shankar moved to Madras to begin making his dream production, Kalpana. 

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13 comments Twin Dance, Uday Shankar, Zohra Segal

A Documentary on Simkie, Uday Shankar's Dance Partner

I recently came across the documentary Simkie Paris-Delhi made in 2008 by Charlotte Arrighi de Casanova and was thrilled by what it contained!  The documentary's subject is Simkie, the French woman who was Uday Shankar's dance partner for some 20 years.  She is the woman often seen in stills dancing next to Uday, and in articles about Uday she generally gets at least a passing mention and at most  the revelation that her real name was Simone Barbier and she transitioned from being a pianist to being Uday's closest dance partner.  But I've never been able to find more about her personal life such as who she was, how she as a European became interested in Indian dance, how people reacted to her, what she herself thought of Uday's dance style, authenticity issues, etc.  This documentary, made by Simkie's niece, helps shed a bit more light on the elusive figure.  Here it is:

Update: Unfortunately the full length video has been
made private and only a brief trailer is viewable

The documentary is comprised almost entirely of interviews of Simkie's relatives and former dance associates interspersed with rare photos and shots of modern Indian street life and dance practice.  While the first half is mostly in French with no subtitles, most of the interviewees in the second half speak English.  The cinematography is lovely, the pace reflective and languid, and the mood a bit sad, almost forlorn.

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16 comments Documentary, Simkie, Uday Shankar, Zohra Segal