Eminent Kathak dancer Rohini Bhate passes away

Pune, Oct 10 (UNI) Eminent Kathak dancer, teacher and scholar Rohini Bhate died here today after a short span of illness.

She was 83 and is survived by a son.

Bhate, also known as Tai, was among the seniormost practitioners of the Kathak art. Born in 1924, she received training from Lachhu Maharaj and Mohanrao Kallinapurkar of the Lucknow and Jaipur ''gharanas'' of Kathak.

With her understanding of the structure and aesthetics of ''talas'', her flair for adaptation of oral traditions, and her analytical and innovative approach to ''abhinaya'', Bhate enriched the Kathak repertoire creating a large corpus of dance compositions.

A respected teacher, Ms Bhate trained a number of dancers. Her contributions also include 15 dance-dramas and choreography for several films and plays. She had performed in various music and dance events in India.

She was the founder director of the Nrityabharati Kathak Dance Academy, Pune, which completed 50 years in 1997. She also served on the advisory committees of Khairagarh University and Kathak Kendra.

Bhate has been honoured with the Maharashtra State Award (1977), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1997) and the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar (1990).

The dancer was not keeping well for the past few months and was admitted to a private nursing home, where she breathed her last. Her funeral will be held here later today.

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