Chandralekha (dancer)

Chandralekha (dancer) Biography

Chandralekha was an acclaimed dancer who hailed from Gujarat. Known for her significant contributions to the fusion dance forms, she was a well-known choreographer as well. She was an exponent of Bharatanatyam and Kerala martial arts like Kalarippayattu, and used to fuse both these art forms to choreograph wonderful dance pieces. She received Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Creative dance in 1991. She was also given Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 2004 for her contributions to Indian dance forms. Chandralekha is also a recipient of Kalidas Samman for the year 2003-2004 by the government of Madhya Pradesh. She spent her active professional life and last years in Chennai where she dedicated her full life time to art forms.

Her full name is Chandralekha Prabhudas Patel. She was born in Wada, Maharashtra to a doctor. Her childhood days were spent in Gujarat and Maharashtra. After school studies, she pursued law. But she discontinued her law studies to take dance as full time profession. She got drawn towards south Indian traditional dance forms and martial arts. So she moved to Chennai. She started off with formal learning in Bharathnatyam dance form from Ellappa Pillai. She was deeply influenced by doyens of this art form - Balasaraswati and Rukmini Devi Arundale, and later she choreographed many items inspired by Balasaraswati’s style of work.

Though she took formal training in Bharatnatyam, she got interested in fusion dance forms. She wonderfully choreographed many classical art pieces by incorporating Kalaripayattu, martial art form of Kerala. She also included many other forms of performing arts in her creations. She got appreciation for her hard work and efforts. She has also invited controversies for her distinct style of work. She described her production works as "Celebrations of the human body".

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Updated: June 26, 2016