https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Chandralekha_dancerChandralekha dancer - Revision history2026-07-31T07:29:47ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Chandralekha_dancer&diff=450133&oldid=prevShai0778 at 23:28, 10 November 20252025-11-10T23:28:20Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian dancer and choreographer (1928–2006)}}<br />
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{{Infobox dancer<br />
| name = Chandralekha<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1928|12|06}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Vada, Palghar|Vada]], [[Bombay Presidency]], [[British India]]<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2006|12|30|1928|12|06}}<br />
| death_place = [[Chennai]], [[India]]<br />
}}<br />
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'''Chandralekha Prabhudas Patel''' (6 December 1928 – 30 December 2006), commonly known as '''Chandralekha''', was a dancer and choreographer from [[India]]. The niece of [[Vallabhbhai Patel]], India's first deputy Prime Minister, she was an exponent of performances fusing [[Bharatanatyam]] with [[Yoga]] and martial arts like [[Kalarippayattu]].<br />
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She was conferred the highest award of the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]], India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, the [[List of Sangeet Natak Akademi fellows|Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship]] in 2004.<br />
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==Early life and education==<br />
She was born to an [[agnostic]] doctor father and a devout [[Hindu]] mother in [[Vada, Palghar|Vada]], [[Maharashtra]]. She spent her childhood in her native [[Gujarat]] and in Maharashtra.<ref name="Guardian obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/feb/09/guardianobituaries.india|title=Chandralekha: Controversial Indian dancer whose ideas challenged convention|date=9 February 2007|work=The Guardian|access-date=30 November 2009 | location=London}}</ref><br />
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==Career==<br />
After completing high school, Chandralekha studied law, but quit her studies midway to learn dance instead. She started with [[Dasi Attam]], a form of dance practiced by temple dancers in southern India, under the tutelage of [[Ellappa Pillai]]. She was also influenced by [[Balasaraswati]] and [[Rukmini Devi Arundale]] in her dance education, but her choreography shows that she was more influenced by the former.<ref name="Guardian obit" /><ref>{{Cite web|orig-date=May 15, 1985|date=March 13, 2014|first1=Sunil |last1=Kothari |first2=Coomi |last2=Kapoor|author-link2=Coomi Kapoor|title=Danseuse-feminist Chandralekha: The doyenne of thinkers in Indian dance|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/story/19850515-danseuse-feminist-chandralekha-the-doyenne-of-thinkers-in-indian-dance-770024-2013-12-09|access-date=2020-11-05|website=India Today|language=en}}</ref> Although Chandralekha received her early training in [[Bharatanatyam]], she went on to change her focus to postmodern fusion dances that incorporated elements from other dances, martial arts like [[Kalarippayattu]], and performing arts.<ref name="NYT Obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/arts/07chandralekha.html|title=Chandralekha, 79, Dancer Who Blended Indian Forms, Dies|date=7 January 2007|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=30 November 2009 | first=Jennifer | last=Dunning}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nypost/access/68457787.html?dids=68457787:68457787&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+21%2C+1998&author=Clive+Barnes&pub=New+York+Post&desc=HANDSOME+%27RAGA%27-BAG+OF+THESES&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721070127/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nypost/access/68457787.html?dids=68457787:68457787&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+21,+1998&author=Clive+Barnes&pub=New+York+Post&desc=HANDSOME+'RAGA'-BAG+OF+THESES&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 July 2012|title=Handsome 'Raga'-Bag of Theses|date=21 November 1998|newspaper=[[New York Post]]|access-date=30 November 2009 | first=Clive | last=Barnes}}</ref> Her essay 'Militant Origins of Indian Dance', originally published in ''Social Scientist'' in 1979,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chandralekha |title=Militant Origins of Indian Dance |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/books/socialscientist/pager.html?objectid=HN681.S597_98-99_003.gif |journal=Social Scientist |date=1980 |volume=9 |issue=98–99 |pages=80–86 |doi=10.2307/3516927 |jstor=3516927 |via=Digital South Asia Library|url-access=subscription }}</ref> was later reprinted in the volume ''Improvised Futures: Encountering the Body in Performance'', part of the India Since the 90s series published by [[Tulika Books]]. <br />
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==Awards and recognition==<br />
* 1991: [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]: Creative Dance<br />
* 2003-2004: [[Kalidas Samman]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/10/19/stories/2003101900711100.htm|title='Kalidas Samman' for Chandralekha|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=19 October 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080204084001/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/10/19/stories/2003101900711100.htm|archive-date=4 February 2008|url-status=usurped}}</ref><br />
* 2004: [[List of Sangeet Natak Akademi fellows|Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship]]<ref>{{cite web|title= Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna Sadasya (Fellowship)|url= http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/fellowslist.htm|publisher= [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]]|access-date= 1 December 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110727235210/http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/fellowslist.htm|archive-date= 27 July 2011|url-status= dead}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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== Bibliography ==<br />
* Rustom Barucha. ''Chandralekha: Woman, Dance, Resistance.'' Indus. New Delhi: 1995. {{ISBN|81-7223-168-7}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120406070204/http://danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/dance/chandralekha-group?ref=artist&refcar=%2Fartist%2Fc-d Archive film of Chandralekha performing Yanta in 1994 at Jacob's Pillow]<br />
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{{SangeetNatakAkademiFellowship}}<br />
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[[Category:Gujarati people]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women choreographers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian choreographers]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship]]<br />
[[Category:1928 births]]<br />
[[Category:2006 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Performers of Indian classical dance]]<br />
[[Category:Indian female dancers]]<br />
[[Category:Kalarippayattu practitioners]]<br />
[[Category:Indian female martial artists]]<br />
[[Category:Dancers from Maharashtra]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian dancers]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]<br />
[[Category:Women artists from Maharashtra]]<br />
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[[Category:Experiments in Art and Technology collaborating artists]]</div>Shai0778