Aryakin2021: starting some bio and citations

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{{Short description|Indian classical dancer and stage actress (1923–2022)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2023}}
'''Bhanumati Rao''' (4 December 1923 – 12 February 2022) (sometimes spelled as '''Bhanumathi''') was an Indian classical dancer, teacher, and stage actress. Specializing in two forms of Indian classical dance, [[Kathakali]] and [[Bharatanatyam]], she was also an actress on stage in [[Malayalam]]-language theater. She later taught classical dance and music, and in 2019, was the subject of a [[documentary film]] about her life, made by director R.V. Ramani.

== Career ==
Rao studied dance as a child, but left India for the United Kingdom at the age of 24 to study library science.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2016-01-17|title=Dance is a way of life: 92-year-old woman who broke the internet with Bharatanatyam performance|url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/dance-way-life-92-year-old-woman-who-broke-internet-bharatanatyam-performance-37817|access-date=2022-02-22|website=The News Minute|language=en}}</ref> While in the United Kingdom, she began her career as a professional dancer, becoming a member of a dance group headed by Indian classical dancer [[Ram Gopal (dancer)|Ram Gopal]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Iyer|first=Gayathri|date=2022-02-17|title=Remembering guru Bhanumathi Rao, whose love for dance always triumphed|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/remembering-guru-bhanumathi-rao-whose-love-for-dance-always-triumphed/article65055111.ece|access-date=2022-02-22|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> As a member of Ram Gopal's troupe, she toured India and Europe in the 1940s, performing Indian classical dance and helping to raise funds for the colonial war effort.<ref name=":1" /> Following her marriage to Krishna Rao, she lived in New York in the 1950s, where she continued to perform, especially for visiting Indian diplomats and politicians including India's first prime minister, [[Jawaharlal Nehru]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=2019-11-25|title=Oh That's Bhanu: Capturing dance, life and truth of Bhanumathi Rao|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/tamil/oh-thats-bhanu-documentary-bhanumathi-rao-bharatanatyam-dancer-tagore-film-centre-6135402/|access-date=2022-02-22|website=The Indian Express|language=en}}</ref> She was instrumental in introducing Indian classical dance to international audiences, and often innovated with classical techniques, incorporating aspects of other Indian classical and folk dances into her performances.<ref name=":0" />

Rao returned to India after India attained Independence, and lived in [[New Delhi]], where she established a dance school and taught two forms of Indian classical dance; [[Kathakali]] and [[Bharatanatyam]].<ref name=":1" /> During this time, she also began performing in Malayalam-language theater, and often acted, directed and wrote scripts based on [[Malayalam literature]] and stories herself.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> She was a notable performer, and had transitioned into performing Hindi-language theater as well, memorizing her dialogues after having them written in her native Malayalam language.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Bhanumati Rao: The Dancer Who Lived in The Moment With Infinite Grace and Joy|url=https://thewire.in/the-arts/bhanumati-rao-the-dancer-who-lived-in-the-moment-with-infinite-grace-and-joy|access-date=2022-02-22|website=The Wire}}</ref> She was known in particular for her performance in ''vidhi vesham'', or comic roles.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-09-27|title=Maya Krishna Rao: The Argumentative Actor|url=https://openthemagazine.com/art-culture/theatre/maya-krishna-rao-the-argumentative-actor/|access-date=2022-02-22|website=Open The Magazine|language=en-GB}}</ref> Following this, she moved to [[Bangalore|Bengaluru]], where she studied classical Indian [[Carnatic music|Carnatic]] music.<ref name=":1" /> Although she stopped performing dance in the 1990s, she continued to practice dance through her life, into her 90s, and in 2016, a video of Rao dancing classical Bharatanatyam at the age of 92 went viral, leading to a revived interest in her career.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Sundaram|first=Nandhu|title=Jio MAMI 21st Mumbai Film Festival: 'Oh That's Bhanu' at the centre stage|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/watch/film-on-bhanumathi-rao-at-mami/article29789089.ece|access-date=2022-02-22|website=www.thehindubusinessline.com|date=25 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-01-04|title=Video of 92-yr-old Bhanumathi Rao performing Bharatanatyam goes viral|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/viral-videos-trending/video-of-92-yr-old-bhanumathi-rao-performing-bharatanatyam-goes-viral/|access-date=2022-02-22|website=The Indian Express|language=en}}</ref>

Rao was active in social efforts to establish women's rights, and worked with the [[All India Women's Conference]].<ref name=":1" />

In 2019, she was the subject of a documentary film, ''Oh That's Bhanu'', about her life. It was made by filmmaker R.V. Ramani, and documented her career in dance as well as her later struggles with memory loss. The film later won the Bala Kailasam Memorial Award 2019,<ref name=":2" /> and was screened at the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image festival in 2019.<ref name=":4" />

== Personal life ==
Rao was born in Kozhikode, Kerala in 1923.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> She met her husband, Krishna Rao, a lawyer, while on tour in the 1940s. They had two daughters, Tara Krishna Rao, and [[Maya Krishna Rao]], who is also a dancer.<ref name=":1" /> For a period of ten years, in the 1990s, Rao retreated from public life and lived in an [[ashram]] (a Hindu spiritual hermitage) in Himachal Pradesh.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-01-04|title=Age on Her Side|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/age-on-her-side/|access-date=2022-02-22|website=The Indian Express|language=en}}</ref> She died on 12 February 2022 at the age of 98.<ref name=":3" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian dancers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian actresses]]
[[Category:Bharatanatyam dancers]]
[[Category:Kathakali dancers]]
[[Category:Indian theatre directors]]
[[Category:Indian theatre people]]
[[Category:Indian stage actresses]]
[[Category:People from Kozhikode]]
[[Category:Actresses from Kerala]]
[[Category:Dancers from Kerala]]

Bhanumati Rao - Revision history

Aryakin2021: starting some bio and citations