• Mr. Satyajit Debnath

Rukmini Devi Arundale, a Bharatnatyam exponent and theosophist, was the founder of Kalakshetra. She was not only exposed to just theosophical society ideas, but also to new ideas on culture, theatre, music and dance. Later she decided to marry a prominent British theosophist Dr. George Arundale, a close associate of Annie Besant and also the Principal of Central Hindu College, Varanasi. Rukimni Devi Arundale visited Bombay to see the perfor-mance of the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. After that, their friendship grew and soon she decided to start learning dance. It was later at the behest of Anna Pavlova, that Rukmini Devi turned her attention to discover traditional Indian dance forms. She started learning and then at the age of 31 she invited hundreds of people to watch her first dance performance. It was very difficult for her to sustain and survive with dance in those days because at that time dance was practised and performed only by the women of a particular caste who were called devadasis. Later she decided to move on with her own life vision. The day when she performed for the first time in front of hundreds of people, there was a small young child of about six years, named Sarda Hoffman. She was overwhelmed and surprised by watching Rukmini Ji’s dance and later she decided to start learning dance too. When Rukmini Devi Arundale started teaching, Sarda Hoffman was her first student.

Rukmini Devi Arundale & her journey to Kalakshetra

"Rukmini Devi Arundale & her journey to Kalakshetra", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 7, page no.1557-1562, July-2020, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2007193.pdf

"Rukmini Devi Arundale & her journey to Kalakshetra", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 7, page no. pp1557-1562, July-2020, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2007193.pdf