Dr. Kanak Rele the Iron Lady who revived Mohiniyattam passes away in Mumbai

Dr. Kanak Rele, a world-renowned dancer and Mohiniyattam exponent, died on Wednesday morning in a private hospital after suffering a heart attack, according to family sources.


Dr. Rele established the Nalanda Dance Research Centre and the Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya, which pioneered dance research. She taught hundreds of students and brought classical dance to the masses. Her maternal uncle asked her to learn a dance form when she was eight years old. She had become impressed with the masks, dramatic gestures, and colourful costumes over time. She would get up at 5 a.m. to walk across the street to her teacher's house to learn the finer points.



Kanak Rele lost her father when she was four years old, and she grew up with her maternal grandmother, mother, and uncle. Her uncle, a freedom fighter and artist educated at the Vishwa-Bharati University in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, aspired to promote the arts in a progressive manner. Kanak and her mother accompanied him to Shantiniketan when she was four, where her mother purchased batik and Kanak frolicked around Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.


With determination and faith, she went on to establish one of the world's best institutions, the Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya, in Juhu, Mumbai, in 1973.


She began learning Mohiniyattam, a Kerala dance form, much later, after conducting extensive research into the dance forms from ancient texts. She eventually helped to revive and restructure the nearly extinct dance form. Her Mohiniyattam repertoire includes choreographies of mythological women like Putana, Urmila, Draupadi, Radha, and Kubja, who embodied strength and determination, much like her.


She studied law in Mumbai and international law in the United Kingdom, and she also holds a doctorate in dance from the University of Mumbai.


Dr. Rele has been awarded Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1994), Padma Shri (1989), M. S. Subbulakshmi Award, Kalidas Samman (2006), Padma Bhushan (2013), and other honours during her nearly eight-decade-long dance career.

FAQs

Q1. When was Dr. Kanak Rele born?
June 11, 1937


Q2. Who is the founder of Nalanda Dance Research Centre?
Dr. Kanak Yatindra Rele