At the age of 85, the legendary classical dancer Kanak Rele passed away. The inaugural Guru Gopinath National Puraskaram was given to the Mohiniyattam performer by the Keralan government. The Nalanda Dance Research Institute in Mumbai and the Nalanda Dance Kala Mahavidyalaya both have Kanak Rele as its first director and principal, respectively. She was a key contributor to Mohiniyattam`s global prominence and increased popularity.

 

Born on June 11, 1937, in Gujarat to Shivdas and Madhuri, Kanak Rele spent her childhood in Santiniketan, West Bengal. It was during this time that she turned to dance and became fascinated with Kathakali and Mohiniyattam. At the age of seven, she learned Kathakali under Guru Karunakara Panicker. Kanak Rele, who loved Kerala and its art forms, studied Mohiniyattam under Kalamandalam Rajalakshmi. Although she studied law at the University of Mumbai and obtained a diploma in international law from the University of Manchester, she chose dance as her field.

 

Kanak Rele received various awards and prizes over her nearly eight-decade-long dancing career, including the Padma Shri (1989), Padma Bhushan (2013), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1994), Kalidas Samman (2006), M. S. Subbulak.