Mrinalini Vikram Sarabhai

Born: 11 May 1918

Died: 21 January 2016

She was an Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor.
She was the founder and director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry, in the city of Ahmedabad.
She received many awards and citations in recognition of her contribution to art.
She trained over 18,000 students in Bharatnatyam and Kathakali.
She married the Indian physicist Vikram Sarabhai who is considered to be the Father of the Indian Space Program in 1942.
She has been awarded by the Indian government with the national civilian awards Padma Bhushan in 1992 and the Padma Shri in 1965.
She was honoured with the Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa (LittD) by the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK in 1997.
She was also the first Indian to receive the medal and Diploma of the French association Archives Internationales de la Danse.
She was nominated to the Executive Committee of the International Dance Council, Paris in 1990 and awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, New Delhi in 1994.
She was presented with a gold medal by the Mexican Government for her choreography for the Ballet Folklorico of Mexico.