2405:204:20AB:F9E4:F9D6:FBFB:15DE:4271 at 13:10, 23 December 2021

2021-12-23T13:10:04Z

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{{Use Indian English|date=November 2018}}
'''Shanta Rao''' (1930 - 28 December 2007) was a notable dancer from [[India]]. She studied and performed [[Kathakali]], [[Bharatanatyam]] and [[Kuchipudi]].

She was a recipient of the [[Padma Shri]], [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm|title=SNA: List of Akademi Awardees|publisher=[[Sangeet Natak Akademi]] Official website|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530204253/http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm|archive-date=2015-05-30}}</ref> and [[Kalidas Samman]] for Classical Dance.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=Kalidas Award Holders (Classical Dance) |url=http://www.mpculture.in/html/kalidasaward-dance.asp |publisher=Department of Culture, Government of Madhya Pradesh |access-date=18 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120409203445/http://www.mpculture.in/html/kalidasaward-dance.asp |archive-date=9 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

She was born in 1925 in Bombay,<ref name="CohenFoundation1998">{{cite book|author1=Selma Jeanne Cohen|author2=Dance Perspectives Foundation|title=International encyclopedia of dance: a project of Dance Perspectives Foundation, Inc|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jgYKAQAAMAAJ|year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-512309-8}}</ref> and lived in [[Mumbai]] and [[Bangalore]]. She hailed from Mangalore. She died on 28 December 2007 at her home at [[Malleswaram]], Bangalore.<ref name=nar>{{cite web | title = Remembering the one and only Shanta Rao |author= Dr. Sunil Kothari |author-link=Sunil Kothari|publisher=Narthaki| url = http://www.narthaki.com/info/gtsk/gtsk6.html|date=16 May 2008| access-date = 2014-03-18 }}
</ref>

== Life and career ==
Shanta Rao was born in 1925 to the [[Saraswat Brahmin]]s, who were an honourable family in Bombay. She wished to pursue Kathakali but faced opposition at an early age. Eventually, she went on to develop a passion for classical traditions away from an urban setup. She rejected the ideology of mainstream schooling to pursue dance. Rao traveled to Kerala Kalamandalam with a chaperone, G. Venkatachalam, in the year 1939. The proprietor of Kerala Kalamandalam was a poet named Vallathol Narayan Menon.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=The Sunil Kothari Column - Remembering the one and only Shanta Rao - Dr. Sunil Kothari|url=https://narthaki.com/info/gtsk/gtsk6.html|access-date=2021-03-28|website=narthaki.com}}</ref>

P. Ravunni Menon, a Guru from [[Kerala Kalamandalam|Kalamandalam]], was taken by surprise at the sight of a young girl wanting to participate in a masculine art form like Kathakali. Shanta Rao was one of the first female pioneers of Kathakali who challenged the traditional norms of classical dance. In the Kalamandalam, Shanta had the opportunity to meet the last great Guru of Mohini Attam, Krishna Panikkar, who eventually endowed his legacy of movements and music. She made her debut in Kathakali in 1940 in front of an audience of Namboodiris and Kathakali experts in Thrissur.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kothari|first=Sunil|date=2019-06-17|title=Paucity of archival material threatens legacy of Kathakali dancer Shanta Rao|url=https://www.asianage.com/life/art/170619/paucity-of-archival-material-threatens-legacy-of-kathakali-dancer-shanta-rao.html|access-date=2021-03-28|website=The Asian Age}}</ref><ref name=":3"/>

Shanta Rao learnt Bharatanatyam from Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=676 Ashoke Chatterjee, A perfect stillness: the art of Shanta Rao|url=https://www.india-seminar.com/2015/676/676_ashoke_chatterjee.htm|access-date=2021-03-28|website=www.india-seminar.com}}</ref> She made her debut in Bharatnatyam in the Music Academy of Madras in 1942.<ref name=":2" /> Rao explored the dance form Kuchipudi under Vempati Chinna Satyam when she was believed to be in her 50s. She formulated Bhama Natyam,<ref>{{Citation|title=Interview with Shanta Rao|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPfTeebpVSA|language=en|access-date=2021-03-28}}</ref> inspired and influenced by Venkatachalapathi Sastri, who introduced her to Bhamasutram rituals. Sastri entrusted and blessed her with the sanctity of the art.<ref name=":2" />

== Performances ==

* Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Swarna Jayanti Mahotsava, celebrating India’s 50th year of independence, organised in Delhi in 1997.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shanta Rao|url=https://www.sahapedia.org/shanta-rao|access-date=2021-03-28|website=Sahapedia|language=en}}</ref>
* Ashta Mahishi, a two-hour Bhama Natyam composition recounting legends of the eight wives of Lord Krishna.- (June 2006)<ref name=":3" />

== Awards and achievements ==

* [[Padma Shri]] by the Government of India, 1971<ref>{{cite web|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2013)|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf|archive-date=15 October 2015|access-date=18 March 2014|publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]]}}</ref>
* [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]] - given by [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]], India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, 1970 <ref name=":0" />
* Kalidas Samman for Classical Dance of [[Government of Madhya Pradesh]], 1993-94 <ref name=":1" />

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|author1=Sunil Janah|author2=Ashoke Chatterjee|title=Dances of the Golden Hall: Photographs of the Indian classical dancer Shanta Rao|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mj3PAAAAMAAJ|year=1979|publisher=Indian Council for Cultural Relations}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Shanta}}
[[Category:Indian female classical dancers]]
[[Category:Performers of Indian classical dance]]
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:Artists from Mangalore]]
[[Category:Bharatanatyam exponents]]
[[Category:Artists from Bangalore]]
[[Category:Articles created or expanded during Women's History Month (India) - 2014]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]
[[Category:Kuchipudi dancers]]
[[Category:Kathakali exponents]]
[[Category:Dancers from Karnataka]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dancers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]
[[Category:Women artists from Karnataka]]

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Shanta Rao - Revision history

2405:204:20AB:F9E4:F9D6:FBFB:15DE:4271 at 13:10, 23 December 2021