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Thursday, April 24, 2025
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Mallika
Sarabhai, one of the leading
exponents of Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi, is the
daughter of the dancing legend Mrinalini Sarabhai and the renowned scientist
Vikram Sarabhai. A multifaceted personality, Mallika is not only a dancer, but
also a noted film-maker, internationally known choreographer, an actress, a TV
anchor, an editor, a publisher and so on. Throughout her different careers,
dancing has remained her first love.
Mallika started her acting career when she was fifteen and starred in Gujarati and Hindi films. She has also played the role of Draupadi in Peter Brooke's play 'Mahabharata', which was made in English and French. After completing her graduation, Mallika entered into the world of performing arts. She followed the foot steps of her mother and placed herself firmly at the cutting edge of Indian dance and dance theatre. Along with her other interests, she took her Masters in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a doctorate in organisational behaviour.
Since 1977, Mallika, along with her mother noted danseuse and Padma
Bhushan recipient Mrinalini Sarabhai, who was the founder director of the Darpana Academy of
Performing Arts in 1949, co-directed the academy at Ahmedabad. Mrinalini Sarabhai passed
away in 2016, at the age of 97 years. Darpana Academy, a unique centre for the arts,
imparts training in dance, drama, music and puppetry, and has performed all over India and
abroad.
Today the academy has many faces; the Darpana Performance Group, the Janavak Folk and Tribal Dance
Company, Darpana for Development, Darpana Communications, the Darpana
Conservatoire, etc . Since 2001 Mallika has been working closely with
Darpana Communications, a unit of Darpana launched to create innovative
programming for TV, and now for the web.
Watch Video/ interview
with Dr. Mallika Sarabhai
Mallika received her first award in 1977. She was the recipient of the "French Palme D'or", the highest civilian award by the French Government, and in Paris she was honoured as the 'Best Soloist Artist' among 400 dancers from 25 countries among other awards.
Personally she is a strong character with her own definite ideas, an activist for societal education and women’s empowerment, a communicator (as she loves to be known as) for people who care about atrocities, and have the courage to say 'Enough of all that is wrong'. She feels that dance is a living language and is a medium for change, which one can interpret the way one thinks best. She has learned both the theory and practice of dance and her experiments include compositions like Draupadi in Peter Brooke's 'Mahabharata' (1984-89), her hard-hitting solo theatrical work 'Shakti - The Power of Woman' (1989) and 'Sita's Daughters' (1990) as co-writer/choreographer/performer, 'Itan Kahani' (1991) as co-writer/performer, 'Aspiration' & 'Ganga' as Director of Films for Ministry of Environment using dance & puppetry (1986-88) and many more.
In the mid 90s, Mallika began to develop her own contemporary dance vocabulary and went on to create short and full-length works which have been presented in North America, Scotland, Singapore, China and Australia, as well as in India including 'India : Then, Now and Forever' (2006), a show which is a travel through time, incorporating classical, folk, tribal and contemporary dance, to celebrate India’s multiculturalism and plurality. More recently 'Colours of her Heart' (2019), Dance Unlocked (2020), Arid (2021), Spark(2021), Gender Bender(2021) as co-director, performer and choreographer in all of them.
Whatever field she is involved in, be it an activist, writer / columnist, instigator of community projects, anchorperson of magazines or TV channels, painting with her feet, and as a dancer, Mallika is so full of energy that she excels in her roles.
Contact address
Mallika Sarabhai,
'Darpana Academy of Performing Arts',
Usmanpura, Ahmedabad 380013
Ph: (079)/ +91-79-27551389, Fax: (079)/+91-79-27550566
Contact now : E-mail1, E-mail2
Website : http://www.mallikasarabhai.com/ ,
https://darpanacontactus.blogspot.com/
Referance : Mallika
Sarabhai Official website
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