Justin McCarthy (dancer)

Last updated
Justin McCarthy
Born1957 (age 66–67) [1]
East Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States
NationalityAmerican (former)
Indian
Occupation(s)dancer, dance instructor and choreographer
Years active1989-present
Career
Dances Bharatanatyam

Justin McCarthy (born 1957) is an American-born Indian Bharatnatyam dancer, instructor and choreographer. He teaches Bharatnatyam at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra at Delhi, where he has been for the last three decades. [2] [3] He moved to India in 1979, learnt Bharatanatyam from danseuse Leela Samson for ten years, before beginning to teach it at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra at Delhi, where he has teaching ever since. Before this, he received his early training at the Dance School of Berkeley and later trained under Subbaraya Pillai, a leading Guru of the Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam at Chennai. He is also a pianist of Western classical music, and adept in Carnatic music. [1] [4]

Contents

Early life and training

Justin McCarthy was born and brought up in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, in a family of Irish descent. He graduated from East Grand Rapids High School in 1974. He learnt piano and received his early dance training at the Berkeley School of Dance. Later he moved to California, where in the mid-'70s after watching a Bharatanatyam performance at the Golden Gate Park, he soon started learning Bharatanatyam from two American dancers, Lesandre Ayrey and Mimi Janislauuski, students of the Balasaraswati, subsequently, he decided to leave for India. [2] [4] [5]

After his move to India, he first trained under Subbaraya Pillai, a leading Guru of the Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam at Chennai. Next, he trained under Bharatanatyam danseuse Leela Samson for ten years at Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra, Delhi. Meanwhile, he also learnt Tamil and Sanskrit languages, apart from learning Carnatic music vocal. [4] [6]

Career

After performing as a soloist, he has been teaching Bharatanatyam at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in Delhi for the last two decades. [7] He is also the Director of Performing Arts at Ashoka University.

Apart from a Western classical pianist, [8] he is also a keyboardist, plays harpsichord, a baroque keyboard instrument and teaches piano to young children. He has been living in Delhi for the past 30 years and has acquired Indian citizenship. [2]

Justin entered dance choreography in the early 1990s with a poem from Sangam literature, Madurai Kanchi, still one of his noted works. [5] Having learnt Carnatic music, he also composed music for his choreographic works. His choreographed Kshetrayya, based on the imagined life of a 17th-century poet-musician by the same name, was a "hit", and his 2009 production, Rajavilasam — Splendours of the Courtesans performed by Gati Forum also received rave reviews. [6]

In 2010, his dance repertoire troupe, presented a production Lokaalokam, a fusion of three Indian classical dance forms, Chhau, Kathak and Bharatanatyam at the "Ananya Dance Festival" in Delhi's 16th-century Purana Qila . [7] [9] [10]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Borders no Bar". Indian Express. Jun 13, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 "Same Difference: An Indian of American origin wages several battles to acquire his cherished citizenship". Outlook (magazine) . Aug 24, 2009. Archived from the original on 2023-11-06.
  3. ↑ "I want to juxtapose the real energy of Punjab with dance". Indian Express. February 27, 1999.
  4. 1 2 3 Venkataraman, Leela (Jun 2, 2006). "Discovering the face behind the voice: Justin McCarthy's latest production is an imagined life of Kshetrayya through his padams". The Hindu. Archived from the original on November 11, 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. 1 2 "McCarthy's mores". The Hindu. October 16, 2010.
  6. 1 2 "Holding court". Indian Today. January 16, 2009.
  7. 1 2 "Three is company". Sify . 2010-10-24. Archived from the original on 2012-09-30.
  8. ↑ "Columns Commoners, kings and courtesans". Hindustan Times. January 22, 2009. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013.
  9. ↑ "A ride around the universe". The Pioneer. November 6, 2010.
  10. ↑ "On a Classical Note". Indian Express. Oct 18, 2010.
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