Danseuse Mrinalini Sarabhai Passes Away at 97

She also wrote an autobiography titled “Mrinalini Sarabhai: The Voice of the Heart”.

She married physicist Vikram Sarabhai, considered to be the Father of the Indian Space Program in 1942.

Mrinalini Sarabhai’s son Kartikeya had earlier said that her condition was critical and her health had deteriorated due to an infection.

The danseuse’s death was announced by her daughter with a Facebook post that read, “My mother just left for her eternal dance”. Her mother Ammu Swaminathan was one of the known social worker and former parliament member. She founded the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry, in the city of Ahmedabad. She was trained in different classical dance styles.

Mrinalini Sarabhai’s last rites will take place on Thursday at Petapur farmhouse in Gandhinagar.

She was a recipient of India’s third highest civilian award – Padma Bhushan. She was the first classical dancer who became a choreographer. “This is what I think I have done”, she once said.

She started her profession like a dancer Bharatanatyam, of the traditional Indian dance type, but additionally learned Kathakali, a form of party-crisis from her house state of Kerala.

“She supported and propagated the development and enrichment of Bharatnatyam in particular in the country and beyond borders”.