Olive Katherine Craddock (22 January 1894 – 14 July 1926) was an

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The ''Oxford English ...

dancer trained in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

who danced under the name Roshanara. She was known for showing central Indian dance techniques in Britain and America. She died in her thirties from

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a r ...

Biography

Craddock was born on 22 January 1892 in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

. Her father was John James Nolan Craddock who was Anglo-Indian and her mother was Mabel Mary Ann Adams who was British. She learned to dance in India.Roshanara
Victoria and Albert Museum, Retrieved 14 October 2015 before she moved to Britain around 1909. Craddock took the name Roshanara which built on the celebrity of the princess

Roshanara Begum Roshanara Begum ( fa, , lit=Adorned in Light); 3 September 1617 – 11 September 1671) was a Mughal princess and the third daughter of Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Roshanara was a brilliant woman and a talented poet. She ...

She danced with

Loie Fuller Loie Fuller (born Marie Louise Fuller; January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928), also known as Louie Fuller and Loïe Fuller, was an American actress and dancer who was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques. Career Born ...

's company and then undertook training with the Spanish dancer

Carmen Tórtola Valencia Carmen Tórtola Valencia (June 18, 1882 – February 13, 1955) was a Spanish early modern dancer, choreographer, costume designer, and painter, who generally performed barefoot. Tórtola Valencia is said to have been the inspiration for Ru ...

. In 1911 she danced in London in

Oscar Asche John Stange(r) Heiss Oscar Asche (24 January 1871 – 23 March 1936), better known as Oscar Asche, was an Australian actor, director, and writer, best known for having written, directed, and acted in the record-breaking musical '' Chu Chin ...

's Kismet and then as Zobeide in

Scheherazade Scheherazade () is a major female character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. Name According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade'' deri ...

. This role was with the

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Russian Revolution, Revolution ...

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

. The following year she appeared with

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20t ...

's dance company as a speciality dancer. She had several dances that were performed using extracts from the 1880s Oriental opera

Lakmé ''Lakmé'' is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. The score, written from 1881 to 1882, was first performed on 14 April 1883 by the Opéra-Comique at the (second) Salle Favart ...

by the French composer

Léo Delibes Clément Philibert Léo Delibes (; 21 February 1836 – 16 January 1891) was a French Romantic composer, best known for his ballets and operas. His works include the ballets '' Coppélia'' (1870) and '' Sylvia'' (1876) and the opera '' Lakm ...

. Craddock started to work in the United States in 1916 where she appeared in Vaudeville theatres. In 1917 she and Japanese dancer

Michio Itō was a Japanese dancer who developed his own choreography style in Europe and America. He was the son of Kimiye Iijima and architect Tamekichi Ito who was educated at the University of Washington; he was one of nine children, and the brother of D ...

were the specialty dancers with

Adolf Bolm Adolph Rudolphovich Bolm (russian: Адольф Рудольфович Больм; September 25, 1884 – April 16, 1951) was a Russian-born American ballet dancer and choreographer, of German descent. Biography Bolm graduated from the Russi ...

's company ''Ballet Intime''. Roshanara also appeared with

Ratan Devi Ratan Devi Coomaraswamy (born Alice Ethel Richardson; 1889 – July 15, 1958) worked under the stage name of Ratan Devī. She recorded Indian music and was a performer of Hindu songs and poems, and went on concert tours in Britain and America. Mart ...

who was a British singer who had been to India to study music. Devi was accompanied by her husband

Ananda Coomaraswamy Ananda Kentish Muthu Coomaraswamy ( ta, ஆனந்த குமாரசுவாமி, ''Ānanda Kentiś Muthū Kumāraswāmī''; si, ආනන්ද කුමාරස්වාමි ''Ānanda Kumārasvāmī''; 22 August 1877 − 9 Septem ...

who was employed by the Boston Museum of Art as an expert on Indian culture. Coomaraswamy wrote about how Roshanara was an authentic

nautch The nautch (; meaning "dance" or "dancing")Scott A. Kugle, 2016When Sun Meets Moon: Gender, Eros, and Ecstasy in Urdu Poetry p.230. was a popular court dance performed by girls (known as "nautch girls") in India. The culture of the performing ...

dancer in contrast to

Ruth St Denis Ruth St. Denis (born Ruth Denis; January 20, 1879 – July 21, 1968) was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art. She was the co-founder of the American Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts and the teac ...

who a few years before had shown Indian style dances. Craddock arrived as an "alien" emigrant in New York in 1923. Craddock taught dancing and the later film star,

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her p ...

was one of her pupils. She died in her thirties on 16 July 1926 in Asheville, North Carolina. from appendicitis.

Works

Roshanara copyrighted ten of her dances.Dances
Viaf File, Retrieved 17 October 2015

Legacy

Craddock has been compared to the American dancer

Ruth St. Denis Ruth St. Denis (born Ruth Denis; January 20, 1879 – July 21, 1968) was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art. She was the co-founder of the American Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts and the tea ...

who popularised oriental style dances in America. Although Craddock had been trained in India she devoted her time to improving the perfection of her dance. Ruth St. Denis was inspired by Oriental style dance and she founded her own dance school where her students included

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She ...

. Craddock never established her own school and this is considered the reason that she never had the lasting impact that Ruth St. Denis made. Deborah Jowitt writes that Craddock's dances may not have been learnt in India in fact she believes there is a lot of similarity between Craddock's style and that of St Denis some years before. St Denis however seemed to respect Craddock and she followed her career. Roshenara was captured by Ashcan painter

Robert Henri Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher. As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...

. The painting sold for $132,500 in 2000.American Paintings
''The City Review'', Retrieved 14 October 2015

References

External links

Olive Craddock
at the National Portrait Gallery {{Authority control 1894 births 1926 deaths Artists from Kolkata Indian female dancers British female dancers Anglo-Indian people Dancers from West Bengal 20th-century Indian dancers 20th-century Indian women artists Deaths from appendicitis Emigrants from British India to the United Kingdom