Friday’s Google Doodle celebrates the 100th birth anniversary of legendary dancer and Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri recipient Mrinalini Sarabhai.
Born on May 11, 1918 in Kerala, Sarabhai trained in Bharatnatyam, Kathakali and Mohiniyattom.
“One of the few classical dancers trained in more than one form, Sarabhai was able to quickly build a career in choreography and teaching. Despite seeing the continuous evolution of dance forms over her multi-decade career, she was inspired to choreograph more than three hundred dance dramas with a strong base of classical tradition behind them,” wrote the Google blog post.
To “to share the craft with future generations,” Sarabhai and her husband Dr Vikram Sarabhai – who is considered to be the Father of the Indian Space Programme – opened the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts in 1949.
“The small dance academy grew to become not only a study centre for diverse art forms but one that used the power of arts to bring about positive change to the critical issues facing society,” it added.
She was awarded the Padma Shri in 1965 and Padma Bhushan in 1992.
Mrinalini Sarabhai passed away at the age of 97 in January 2016.
Prasanta Patnaik