Menaka Thakkar Dance Company

🪔 About

Menaka Thakkar (March 3, 1942 – February 5, 2022) was a highly influential figure in Indian classical dance, particularly in Canada, where she was credited with introducing and developing the art form. Born in Bombay, India, she began her Bharatanatyam training at the age of four. By her mid-twenties, she had mastered three classical Indian dance styles: Bharatanatyam, Odissi, and Kuchipudi. After earning a BA in visual arts in 1963, she embarked on her performing career. Thakkar immigrated to Canada in 1972 or 1973, following a successful Canadian tour. In 1974, she founded Nrtyakala: The Canadian Academy of Indian Dance in Toronto, the first full-scale Indian dance school in the country, with the aim of providing training and building awareness of Indian arts and culture. Five years later, in 1978, she established the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company (MTDC), Canada's first professional Indian dance company, which toured internationally. As an artistic director, choreographer, and principal performer, Thakkar was known for her feminist, experimental, and innovative choreography, often drawing inspiration from traditional Indian stories and poets like Rabindranath Tagore. She pioneered cross-cultural collaborations, working with Western dance artists such as Robert Desrosiers, Claudia Moore, Danny Grossman, and Grant Strate, to create fusion works like "Duality" (1997) and "Land of Cards" (2000). She also served as an adjunct professor at York University and taught at the National Ballet School, training generations of Indian dancers across Canada. Awards & Honours: Singar Mani Award (1968), Singar Mani Award (1970), Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination, Honorary Doctor of Letters degree (1993), Tri-National Creative Residency Award, City of Toronto Face the Arts Cultural Maverick Award for Dance (2006), Toronto Arts Award for Performing Arts, President's Award, India Abroad magazine's "Power List" (2008), Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts (2012), Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement (Dance) (2013), Inducted into the Dance Collection Danse Hall of Fame (2019).