Dance like a man

On Astad Deboo’s 74th birth anniversary, four designers discuss how the legendary contemporary dancer used clothes to convey deep emotion, big ideas and great art

It's most likely that when someone familiar with the dancer-choreographer’s work heard the name, Astad Deboo, a head full of silver cornrows and a kalidar kurta, billowing around his lithe frame came to mind. 

Deboo, who would’ve turned 74 this week, was as much a style icon as someone who changed the course of contemporary dance and Kathak in India. His experiments inspired, challenged and sometimes, baffled generations of audiences. The winner of the Padma Shri in 2007, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1996, Deboo passed on last December, leaving friends and followers surprised. Designer Ashdeen Lilaowala says Deboo lived well till his last day. “If I were to live my life like he did, I’d have no regrets. I miss our interactions, but I prefer to celebrate that part of his life that was full.” 

Using the tools of musicality and set design, Deboo would conjure up in his performances a visual otherworld that allowed the story he was trying to tell to traverse time, place and gender barriers. But it was through the costumes shaping the syntax of choreography that Deboo became iconic: the wistful gaze with a winding skein of movement. His costumes ranged from floating flares to dhoti drapes and stretch fabric wraps that could be imagined into multiple shapes, like a chewing gum contorting around the tongue. He admitted that this has taken decades of work, and he famously once said: “Dancers are made, not born.”

Also Read: 'We would crack up in Gujarati together'

Remembering how Deboo elevated costumes to a language of liberation and transformation, four designers try to make sense of the dance legend behind the twirl.

‘Astad broke shackles of gender stereotypes through costume’

Sandhya Raman, Independent Costume Designer
The first time I spoke to Astad was in 1991. I wanted him to perform at my graduation show for the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Even though that did not materialise, we stayed in touch and became friends. My wish to collaborate with him was realised with Unbroken Unbowed, which was not only Astad’s wonderful tribute to Gandhi but also his last performance. He appreciated the finer nuances of detailing in the costumes I designed. 

For Unbroken Unbowed, his only prerequisite was that he didn’t want to look like a Kathak dancer, and gave me an open hand to create. We kept the costumes simple yet powerful. I used Khadi liberally, and added the texture of quilting and crinkling to achieve theatrical impact.  

Since we shared our birthdays, it was always about who would be the first to call and wish. It was the cutest annual moment we shared. “Khushi apke saath hamesha rahe,” he’d tell me.

‘He loved his flares and loved to twirl’

Deboo in a Jade ensemble created from 3D handcrafted motifs used as patchwork on a monochromatic angarkha. “We decided to paint the eyes like the Kathakali dancers but with a contemporary feel,” says Monica Shah

Monica Shah, Jade
It was in 2014 when we had approached Astad Deboo to open and close our fashion show with a performance. After the show, we continued to collaborate, and designed costumes for him. He loved his flares and loved to twirl. He understood dance, and using the art form, he defined costumes by how they moved through space, and reacted to motion. That connection between movement and garments made our collaboration beautiful.

Working with him was deeply moving and inspiring on account of his love for Indian craft. He believed himself to be an ambassador of India’s culture, and wanted the ensembles he wore to reflect this. Designing for him was a learning experience.

‘He understood how to use a garment and make it his own’

Astad Deboo choreographed and performed Eternal Embrace in a costume designed by Archana Shah. Pic courtesy/Amit Kumar

Archana Shah, Bandhej
We met because of costumes actually, but eventually grew closer as friends. It was a relationship we shared for more than three decades. Astad had come to see me at my home in Ahmedabad, as he was looking for a change in his sartorial storytelling, from the unitards to something that signified movement and grace. A huge portrait of Bapuji (Mahatma Gandhi) that was on a wall in my home became the starting point, and Astad expressed his intent to imbue Bapuji’s minimal but provocative lessons in his attire. I told him about this one performer in Rajasthan who wore a long, red angarkha-like tunic while reciting songs of Bapuji. The idea of the angarkha tunic clicked, and the rest is history.  

We’ve designed numerous angarkhas covering the whole spectrum of the colour and textile chart, tweaking the kalis (pleats) depending on the scope of the performance. During his visits to Ahmedabad, he would drop into my Bandhej office, and curiously rummage through fabrics. Astad had a good sense of texture and colour, he could differentiate good embroidery from bad, and never hesitated to try a new style. He loved traditional Indian silhouettes, and was interested in how we could tweak them to adapt to his dance pieces. His personal wardrobe of crisp white Lucknowi kurtas too was an extension of this love.

‘He understood the role of the costume designer’

Deboo wore a costume designed by Ashdeen Lilaowala during a performance at the Art & Soul gallery against an installation by sculptor Arzan Khambatta. Lilaowala says that the angarkha tunic embroidered with cranes depicted the exhilaration of being free. Pic courtesy/Amit Kumar

Ashdeen Lilaowala, Fashion Designer
Astad was a friend, not a client. We had collaborated on two costumes for his recent shows, and I remember him telling me: “Darling, I trust you and your art.” He understood the real role of the costume designer, and his ideas went beyond the confines of classical dance and Bollywood. He perfected the angarkha tunic shape since he got the nuances of fabrics, and was intuitive about what worked for him. It was amazing how he made the stage, props and lighting come together with the costumes to create shapes and forms in larger-than-life  performances. Oh, and how he loved to twirl. I used to joke, “Astad, with so many turns, sometimes 300 at a go, siddhu you’ll go upar like a helicopter [you’ll fly straight up like a helicopter],” and he’d respond saying he was stronger than most people way younger than him.

When I launched my label in 2012, I travelled across India holding exhibitions. One of my exhibitions in Bengaluru coincided with Astad’s trip. He helped me set up the booth, carrying heavy suitcases full of sarees. Everyone around my stall laughed in envy saying that a famous dancer was carrying my luggage. “You have a fancy coolie!” 

Life’s a ballet

In 1986, French couturier Pierre Cardin commissioned Astad Deboo to choreograph a piece for the legendary prima ballerina of the Bolshoi ballet company, Maya Plisetskaya of Don Quixote, Swan Lake and The Dying Swan fame. 

Also Read: Astad Deboo (1947-2020): The Universal Gypsy

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