Kumudini Lakhia

Kumudini Lakhia (born 1930) is an Indian Kathak dancer and choreographer based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where she founded Kadamb School of Dance and Music, an institute of Indian dance and music in 1967.^[1]

A pioneer in contemporary Kathak dance, she is credited for moving away from the solo form of Kathak starting in the 1960s, by turning it into a group spectacle, and also innovations like taking away traditional stories and adding contemporary storylines into Kathak repertoire.^[2][3][4]

Career

She began her career dancing with Ram Gopal as he toured the West, bringing Indian dance to the eyes of people abroad for the first time, and then became a dancer and choreographer in her own right. She learned first from various gurus of Jaipur gharana, and then from Shambhu Maharaj.

She is particularly known for her multi-person choreographies. Some of her most famous choreographies include Dhabkar (Pulse), Yugal (The Duet), and Atah Kim (Where Now?), which she performed at the annual Kathak Mahotsav in Delhi in 1980. She was also a choreographer in the Hindi film, Umrao Jaan (1981), along with Gopi Krishna.^[5][6]

She is a guru to many disciples, including Kathak dancers Aditi Mangaldas, Vaishali Trivedi, Daksha Sheth, Prashant Shah, Sanjukta Sinha, and Parul Shah.

Personal life

She was the Cornell Visiting Professor at Swarthmore College for the 2012-2013 academic year.

Choreographies

• "Variation in Thumri" (1969)
• "Venu Nad" (1970)
• "Bhajan" (1985)
• "Hori" (1970)
• "Kolaahal" (1971)
• "Duvidha" (1971)
• "Dhabkar" (1973)
• "Yugal" (1976)
• "Atah Kim" (1982)
• "Okha Haran" (1990)
• "Hun-Nari" (1993)
• "Golden Chains" (for Neena Gupt, London)
• "Sam Samvedan" (1993)
• "Samanvay" (2003)
• "Bhav Krida" (1999)
• "Feathered Cloth – Hagoromo" (2006)
• "Mushti" (2005) ^[4]

Awards and honors

Kumudini Lakhia was awarded the civilian honour of the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1987 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy Music, Dance and Drama in 1982, and Kalidas Samman for the year 2002-03.

References

Further reading

• Movement in Stills: The Dance And Life of Kumudini Lakhia (ISBN 81-88204-42-0) by Reena Shah
• Choreography in the Indian Context by Kumudini Lakhia, (Keynote address Feb 2002)

External links

• Kadamb website
• Kumudini Lakhia Interview nartaki.com