Anjali Mehr

🪔 About

Anjali Mehr (née Hora; 1928-1978) was a pioneering Indian classical dancer, choreographer, and educator in Bharatanatyam. Born in 1928 to Rameshbhai and Mugdhaben Hora, she initially trained in Kathak at age four before transitioning to Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra, Madras (now Chennai). There, she was among the first students and an early disciple of the legendary Rukmini Devi Arundale, learning from esteemed gurus such as Meenakshisundaram Pillai, Chokkalingam Pillai, Sharadambai Devadasi, and Dandayudhapani Pillai. Mehr played a crucial role in strengthening dance education in India. In 1947, Kulapati Dr. K. M. Munshi invited her to teach dance at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, where she became the first Principal of its Sangeet Nartan Shikshapeeth in Bombay (now Mumbai). She also established her own school, "Rukmini Kala Vihar," named after her guru. After her marriage to Dr. Sukumar Merh, she settled in Baroda (now Vadodara), Gujarat, where she joined the M.S. University as a Visiting Professor and later became the Head of the Department of Performing Arts. Known as "Anjaliben," she was celebrated for her bold experiments and innovations in Bharatanatyam, particularly in establishing a Gujarati school of the dance form. She developed an easier learning system for non-Tamil speaking students through her "Stick Drawing Notation System" in the mid-1960s. Her significant contributions include writing a Bharatanatyam margam in Gujarati in 1972 and, in 1977, composing and choreographing the Chandramoulishwara Kuravanji, considered the first Kuravanji written in Gujarati. Anjali Mehr was also one of two individuals from India featured in Magnum Photos' global project 'Generation X' in 1951. She passed away in 1978, reportedly onstage after a performance.