Ragini Devi

🪔 About

Esther Luella Sherman, better known as Ragini Devi, was an American performer and ethnographer of Indian classical dance, born on August 18, 1893, in Petoskey, Michigan, USA. She developed an early fascination with Indian dance from a young age. After initially studying ballet, she debuted as "Ragini Devi" in New York in 1922, performing what she presented as "authentic Indian entertainments". In 1928, she published her pioneering book, "Nritanjali: An Introduction to Hindu Dancing," which received critical acclaim in both the U.S. and India. Driven by a desire to study Indian dance at its source, Ragini Devi traveled to India in 1930, where her daughter, Indrani, was born. In Madras (now Chennai), she undertook intensive training in Sadir (the precursor to Bharatanatyam) with the renowned ex-devadasi Mylapore Gowri Ammal. A significant achievement was her becoming the first woman to study Kathakali at the legendary Kerala Kalamandalam, having persuaded the poet Vallathol Narayana Menon to grant her admission to the traditionally all-male form. From 1933 to 1936, she toured India with Kathakali dancer Gopinath, adapting the dance-drama for urban theater-goers by shortening performances and streamlining costumes. Upon returning to the United States, Ragini Devi established the India Dance Theatre in New York. In 1948, she received a Rockefeller Foundation grant to support her ethnographic work. Her extensive research culminated in the publication of "Dance Dialects of India" in 1978, a comprehensive documentation of various regional Indian dance forms. Ragini Devi was instrumental in introducing Indian classical dances to the U.S. and played a crucial role in their revival and legitimization in India. She continued performing until 1979, notably participating in a three-generation concert with her daughter Indrani Rahman and granddaughter Sukanya Rahman in New York. Ragini Devi passed away on January 22, 1982, in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.