Geetanjali Lal (born Geetanjali Desai; 5 Nov 1948) is an Indian

Kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...

dancer and choreographer.

Early life and education

Geetanjali Lal received formal training in Hindustani Classical music from her father, Rajnikant Desai – vocalist & professor of music and the disciple of Aftab-e-Mosiqui Ustad Faiyaz Khan of Agra Gharana. She began formal training in Kathak dance at an early age of 6, under the distinguished Kathak danseuse Roshan Kumari. Geetanjali Lal continued with her formal training in Kathak dance under stalwarts – Pandit Gopi Krishna, Shri Mohan Rao Kallianpurkar and Pandit Devi Lal of Jaipur Gharana.

Career

She held the post of Chief of Repertory and Director of

Kathak Kendra ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the Hindu epics through danc ...

from 2009-2012. She is a top grade artist of

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

and

Indian Council for Cultural Relations The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India's global cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their people. It was founded on 9 April ...

, New Delhi. Geetanjali is well known for her abhinaya and other features of the Jaipur gharana, like laykaari, intricate rhythmic patterns in her footwork. Geetanjali Lal had, ringing out the year 2001, surprised the audience with her imaginative choreography drawing on the tragic earthquake in Kutch, the attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, and the popular TV quiz show ‘

Kaun Banega Crorepati ''Kaun Banega Crorepati'' (simply ''KBC''; English: ''Who Will Become a Crorepati'') is an Indian Hindi-language television game show. It is the official Hindi adaptation of the '' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' franchise. It is presented ...

' starring

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

. Geetanjali also acted in Kashmiri feature film – Shayar-e-Kashmir Mahjoor (1972) by Prabhat Mukherjee – in the lead role, alongside actors Balraj Sahani,

Parikshit Sahni Parikshit Sahni (born 1 January 1944) is an Indian film and television actor who has worked in Hindi and Punjabi cinema. He is known for his roles in the TV series ''Barrister Vinod'', '' Gul Gulshan Gulfaam'' (Doordarshan) and ''Gaatha'' (St ...

Pran PRAN-RFL Group () is a Bangladeshi conglomerate, founded in 1981 by Amjad Khan Chowdhury. It is one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh Pran-RFL Group is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and employs over 1,00,000 people worldwide ...

Personal life

She was married to Pandit Dev Lal of Jaipur Gharana. Famous Kathak dancers Abhimanyu Lal (her son), Vidha Lal and Avinav Mukherjee are her disciples.

Awards and honors

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IAST: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recogni ...

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English language, English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. It is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture (India) ...

in 2007 Also, she has been awarded the title of “Nritya Sharada”, "Natya Kala Shree”, “Bharat Gaurav”, “Kala Shiromani” "Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini award" and “Kalpana chawala award, "Jjijabai Women Achivers Award", "Acharya Kala Vipanchee"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:LaL, Geetanjali Kathak exponents Indian classical choreographers 1948 births Living people Artists from Ahmedabad Teachers of Indian classical dance Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Indian women choreographers Women educators from Gujarat Educators from Gujarat Indian dance teachers Indian female classical dancers 20th-century Indian dancers Dancers from Gujarat 20th-century Indian educators 20th-century Indian women educators 20th-century Indian women artists Women musicians from Gujarat