Rohini Bhate Biography 
Rohini Bhate was a Kathak exponent from Bihar. She was one among the most senior artists of Kathak in India. She has received numerous honours throughout her life including Sangeet Natak Academy award fellowship, Maharashtra Rajya Puraskar in 1977, Kalidas Samman by Madhya Pradesh Government in 1997, Vasundhra Pandit Puraskar by Vasundhara Pandit Pratishtan of Pune in 2003, Godavari Puraskar by Janasthan Foundation in 1994 and Sangit Natak Akademi award in 1979.
Rohini was born in a middle class family of Patna in November 14, 1924. She learnt Bharatanatyam under Guru Parvati Kumar. She was initiated to Kathak later. She studied Kathak under Pandit Lacchu Maharaj and Pandit Mohan Rao Kallianpurkar and later she became confused whether to choose Bharatanatyam or Kathak as main stream. Her mother also helped her a lot in choosing dance as her profession. She took dancing as her profession at the age of 28 and had performed for 6 decades. She also got opportunity to learn under Keshavrao Bhole and Vasantrao Deshpande. She also took formal learning in Hindustani vocal music. She also composed music for many of her choreographed dance forms.
Bhate founded the Nrityabharati Kathak Dance Academy at Pune in 1947 and trained 100s of students in the past 6 decades. She authored several books in Marathi, including her autobiography, “Majhi Nrityasadhana”. “Mi Isadora” and “Kathak Darpana Deepika” are other published works. She also guided the preparation of syllabi for Kathak courses at Lalit Kala Kendra, University of Pune. She is also known for coining many phrases related to dance forms. She is known as a writer, translator, orator, theoretician, teacher and dancer. She died on October 10, 2008 at the age of 83, in Pune.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 23, 2014
