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[[file:Medha Yodh.jpg | thumb | Medha Yodh]]
'''Medha Yodh''' (July 31, 1927 in [[Ahmedabad]] – July 11, 2007 in [[San Diego]]) was an [[India]]n and [[Indian American]] [[Bharatanatyam]] dancer and teacher of [[classical Indian dance]] at [[UCLA]]. She was a disciple of [[Tanjore Balasaraswati]] and created a documentary on [[Garba (dance)|Garba]].

==Early life==
Medha Yodh was born on July 31, 1927, in the city of [[Ahmedabad]], which is located in the present day state of [[Gujarat]].<ref name=medha>{{cite news |first=Lewis|last=Segal|title= Medha Yodh, 79; classical Indian dancer and arts advocate taught at UCLA
|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/18/local/me-yodh18|work= [[Los Angeles Times]] |date=2007-07-18 |access-date=2007-08-04 }}</ref> Yodha began dancing before she turned five years old.<ref name=medha/> Yodh became fascinated with [[Bharatanatyam]], one of [[India]]'s best known forms of [[Indian classical dance|classical dance]], early in life.<ref name=medha/>

Despite her interest in dance, Medha Yodh education's was heavily focused on [[science]]. Yodha received as [[Bachelor of Science]] degree from the [[University of Bombay]].<ref name=medha/>
She continued her education and received her master's from [[Stanford University]] in California.<ref name=medha/> Medha Yoda later explained her unusual educational background for a dance teacher in a 1984 interview with the [[Los Angeles Times]], "I have a proper [[Brahman]] background. I grew up in [[British India]], and I was expected to learn the [[arts]], to go into the [[sciences]] and to [[travel]] abroad.<ref name=medha/>

Medha Yodh traveled extensively outside of [[India]] during her younger years. Her travels exposed her to different forms of modern and world styles of dance. Ultimately, Yodh became a student of [[Tanjore Balasaraswati]], one of the most important Indian dancers of her time, while visiting [[Connecticut]].<ref name=medha/> She became a lifelong student and disciple of Balasaraswati.

She also met and married a [[Sweden|Swedish]] medical student, Carl von Essen, during her travels.<ref name=medha/> The couple later divorced.

==Career==
Yodh became a faculty member at [[UCLA]] in 1976, and focused on teaching Balasaraswati's values and dance styles.<ref name=medha/> She remained at UCLA until her retirement from the school in 1994.<ref name=medha/> She continued to serve as an adviser for a number of UCLA organizations after her retirement, including Dance Kaleidoscope series.<ref name=medha/>

Medha Yodh created an academically well received [[documentary film]] in 1987.<ref name=medha/> The film, entitled ''Garba-Ras: A Glimpse Into Gujarati Culture'' focused on the [[Garba (dance)|Garba]], a traditional [[Gujarat]]i dance.<ref name=medha/>

Yodh continued to dance throughout [[California]] following her retirement. A 2000 ''L.A. Times'' review on her performance at the "Spirit Dances" series at [[Highways Performance Space]] in [[Santa Monica]] referred to her as "looking seriously possessed with hearty foot slapping and filigreed fingers."<ref name=medha/>

Medha Yodh continued to teach privately until 2002, when she moved from [[Oakland]] to [[San Diego, California]].<ref name=medha/>

Medha Yodh died of failing health on July 11, 2007, at her daughter's, Kamal Muilenburg, home in [[San Diego]].<ref name=medha/> She was 79 years old.<ref name=medha/>
She was survived by two daughters, Kamal and Neila von Essen, and two granddaughters. Her son, [[Eric von Essen]], a jazz [[bassist]], died in 1997.<ref name=medha/>

==External links==
*[http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-yodh18jul18,1,5053512.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california LA Times: Medha Yodh, 79; classical Indian dancer and arts advocate taught at UCLA]
*[http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/19/fea.htm Medha Yodh, an icon of classical dance, is dead] DAWN - July 19, 2007
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080108231553/http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/PRE/Vol1-10/Vol1-10html/Vol1.html Pacific Review of Ethnomusicology Volume 1 (1984)] - UCLA

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yodh, Medha}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:American people of Gujarati descent]]
[[Category:American Hindus]]
[[Category:Stanford University alumni]]
[[Category:Bharatanatyam exponents]]
[[Category:Artists from Ahmedabad]]
[[Category:University of Mumbai alumni]]
[[Category:Performers of Indian classical dance]]
[[Category:Dancers from Gujarat]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dancers]]
[[Category:Women artists from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Indian female classical dancers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]

Medha Yodh - Revision history

imported>Monkbot at 22:27, 13 December 2020