Noted Odissi and Xatriya dancer from Assam, Gorima Hazarika passed away in Guwahati on Friday. She was 83 years old at the time of her death.
An accomplished Kathak dancer and performer who was also into painting, set designing and choreography, Hazarika was an exceptional Xatriya dancer of her time. Her works instilled meaningful themes and social messages.
Hazarika was born on April 27, 1939 to Lokbandhu Dr. Bhubaneshwar Barua and Indraprabha Barua in Assam’s Guwahati. She was the youngest of five siblings.
She began taking dance lessons from a very young age and became an expert in Kathak and Xatriya. She took admission in Delhi School of Art in 1962. Finding similarities between Odissi and Xatriya, she was soon drawn to it.
Gormia Hazarika founded the Mitali Kala Kendra in Assam in 1982 under the guidance of Odissi Guru Muralidhar Majhi of Rabindra Bharati University. It is a part of Mitali Sangha which was established in 1969 to work towards the betterment of women and children.
She worked tirelessly with Pt. Dr. Maheswar Neog to put Xatriya on the world map at a time when it was forbidden to females. She is also credited for changing the costume of Xatriya dance, doing away with the plain white cloth and using paat and buta designs.
She is known to have performed at the first South Asian festival of SAARC countries in 1992. In 1998, she performed at the Unity Concert.
Some of her other noted performances include at the Republic Day Celebration held in Shillong, Meghalaya by Sangeet Natak Academy, in 2000 and the 15th Konark Dance Music Festival held in Orissa, in 2001.
Hazarika is also known to for her contributions to Assamese cinema. She had been a part of as many as 16 Assamese films as a dance director, her first being ‘Srimoti Mohimamoyi’ by Pulok Gogoi.
For the past 10 years, Gorima had been associated with the cluster developments initiated by Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE).
For all her contributions, she has been recongnised with a fair few awards over the years. She was the winner of All Assam Music College Competition. Hazarika won the Assam Silpi Divas Award in 1976 and Assam Natya Sanmilan Award in 1996.
In 2006, she won the Sangeet Natak Academy Award. Hazarika was also conferred with the Best Dance Director 1996-97, Assam Nritya Samiti Award.