Madame Menaka
DAMAYANTI JOSHI

Madame Menaka — Leila Sokhey — was a pioneering choreographer-dancer who rose to prominence in the 1930s, when she formed a dance company in Bombay, produced a number of dance-dramas on Indian themes, and — in the wake of Uday Shankar — successfully exhibited her work at home and abroad. This book, by a noted Kathak dancer who was once a member of the Menaka Indian Ballet, is the first publication on the life and work of Madame Menaka. Apart from a brief account of her career in dance, it contains valuable information and comments in its appendices: the Menaka Indian Ballet’s itinerary in Europe, reviews in the press, the prospectus of Nrityalayam, the dance school Madame Menaka founded, and notes on her contemporaries. Also reproduced is an article by Madame Menaka herself. The textual material, together with the many rare photographs from the author's personal collection, combine to make this book a useful record of an Indian dancer in modern times.

190 x 250 mm / 62 pages / 50 halftones
Published 1989 / Rs. 150