Rukmini's encounter with Indian classical dance developed through her close contact with famous ballerina Anna Pavlova. The duo met up in a ship while Rukmini was on a tour to Australia. While the dancers became friends, Rukmini took further lessons in ballet from Pavlova's soloist, Cleo Nordi. It was Pavlova who persuaded her to study Indian classical dance. Until then Rukmini had never seen a Bharatnatyam or Sadir (as it was then known) performance, as it was a dance form practiced by women of the devdasi class, who were looked askance as prostitutes as they had fallen in the rungs of society and were often exploited by the priests and landlords.

The turning point in Rukmini's life was in 1933 when E Krishna Iyer, a lawyer and freedom fighter, sponsored a performance of two talented devdasi dancers at the Madras Music Academy. He invited her to watch it. A mesmerised Rukmini expressed a wish to study the dance. The result was a storm of protest from conservative sections of society.

An undeterred Rukmini began to take private lessons from Mylapore Gowri Amma, a well-known devdasi of the time. Not only did she learn from the latter and the great master Pandanallur Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai, but she gave a public presentation at the Diamond Jubilee Convention of the Theosophical Society, with which she and her English husband George Sydney Arundale were closely associated.

Rukmini subsequently went on to revolutionise Bharatnatyam. She made the musicians sit on one side of the stage. With the help of an Italian seamstress, Madame Cazan, she designed new and artistic costumes. Changes were also made in the lighting and the backdrops. Even today most Bharatnatyam dancers follow her lead in costumes and other presentation.

And Rukmini didn't rest content with these innovations. In pursuance of her ambition to popularise Bharatnatyam, she established a dance academy called Kalakshetra, formerly known as the International Academy of Arts. Here she invited famous musicians and gurus to teach.

After her demise, Kalakshetra was declared as an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament--the Kalakshetra Foundation Act 1993. Kalakshetra at Tiruvanmiyur in Chennai is today hailed as one of the best academies of Indian dance and music and gives student a chance to learn in proximity to nature.

Source: Revolutionising Sadir by Dr Sunil Kothari.