The Honourable Sonal Mansingh
Sonal Mansingh performing inNew Delhi.
Background information
Born	Sonal Pakvasa (1944-04-30)30 April 1944 (age 81) Bombay,Bombay Presidency,British India
Origin	India
Genres	Odissi,Bharatanatyam
Occupations	Indian Classical Dancer Guru Motivational Speaker
Years active	1961–present
Website	www.sonalmansingh.in

Sonal Mansingh (born 30 April 1944) is anIndian classical dancer and Guru inBharatanatyam andOdissi dancing style. She has beennominated by thePresident of India to become aMember of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.^[1][2][3] She is the recipient ofPadma Bhushan in 1992 andPadma Vibhushan in 2003.^[4]

Sonal Mansingh was born inMumbai, second of three children to Arvind andPoornima Pakvasa, a noted social worker fromGujarat andPadma Bhushan winner in 2004.^[5] Her grandfather wasMangal Das Pakvasa, a freedom fighter, and one of the first fiveGovernors of India.^[6]

She started learningManipuri dance at age four, along with her elder sister, from a teacher inNagpur, then at age seven she started learningBharatnatyam from various gurus belonging to thePandanallur school,^[7] including Kumar Jayakar in Bombay^[8]

She has "Praveen" and "Kovid" degrees inSanskrit fromBharatiya Vidya Bhavan and B.A. (Hons) degree in German Literature fromElphinstone College,Bombay.^[9]

Though, her real training in dance started when at age 18, despite her family's opposition, she went toBangalore, to learn Bharatanatyam from Prof. U. S. Krishna Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi^[10] at age 18, abhinaya fromMylapore Gowri Ammal, and later started learningOdissi from GuruKelucharan Mohapatra in 1965.

Mansingh was married to former Indian diplomatLalit Mansingh. The couple decided to divorce later.^[11] Her father-in-lawMayadhar Mansingh introduced her toKelucharan Mohapatra where she had her training inOdissi.^[12]

Sonal Mansingh dancing career which started in 1962, after herarangetram inMumbai, and in 1977, she founded,Centre for Indian Classical Dances (CICD) inNew Delhi.^[13][14]

Over the years, dance has taken her all over the world^[15] and brought her many awards, including thePadma Bhushan (1992),^[16]Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987,^[17] and thePadma Vibhushan, India's the second highestcivilian award, in 2003; making her the second woman dancer in India to receive such an honour afterBalasaraswati.^[18] This was followed byKalidas Samman ofMadhya Pradesh government, in 2006 and on 21 April 2007, she was conferred with Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) byG.B. Pant University,Uttarakhand atPantnagar and Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) bySambalpur University.^[19]

To mark the completion of her 40 years in dancing in 2002, notedHindi film director,Prakash Jha made a documentary film on her, titleSonal,^[13] which also won theNational Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film for the year.^[20]

In 2018, she was honoured withSangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship also known as Akademi Ratna, for her contribution in the field of performing arts.^[21]

• Indradhanush
• Manavatta
• Mera Bharat
• Draupadi
• Gita Govinda^[22]
• Sabras
• Chaturang^[23]
• Panchkanya
• Devi Durga
• Aatmayan^[24]
• Samanavaya

• Youngest recipient ofPadma Bhushan in 1992 .^[4]
• Youngest recipient ofPadma Vibhushan in 2003.^[25]
• In November 2019, Sonal Mansingh felicitated with Lifetime Achievement Award.^[26][27]

• "A dancer is not just a dancer. He/She is part of this environment. He/She does not exist in a vacuum. Society and its happenings have an impact on all individuals, especially artists. If an art form does not reflect the existing milieu, it stagnates."^[28]
• "Radha is a grand image too but she's a personification of love without which there is no creation. In our male-dominated HISTORY the image of Krishna at the feet of Radha, begging for her love, is most unusual. Gita Govind invokes deep spiritual thoughts, packaged in beautifully written verses".^[22]

• The Penguin Book of Indian Dance by Sonal Mansingh, Penguin Books Australia.ISBN 0-14-013921-4.
• Classical Dances by Sonal Mansingh, Avinash Pasricha, Varsha Das. 2007, Wisdom Publications.ISBN 81-8328-067-6.
• Draupadi, by Sonal Mansingh; Museum Society of Bombay, 1994.

• Devpriya conversation with Sonal Mansingh by Yatindra Mishra; Vaani publication.

• Sonal Mansingh Contribution to Odissi Dance by Jiwan Pani. 1992, Centre for Indian Classical Dances.ISBN 81-7304-002-8.
• Bharata Natyam: Indian Classical Dance Art, by Sunil Kothari. MARG Publications, 1979.Page 169-170.

• Indian women in dance

• India’s 50 Most Illustrious Women (ISBN 81-88086-19-3) by Indra Gupta

• 1944 births
• Living people
• Teachers of Indian classical dance
• Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
• Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts
• Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in arts
• Odissi exponents
• Indian female classical dancers
• Indian classical choreographers
• Indian women choreographers
• Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Maharashtra
• Dancers from Maharashtra
• 20th-century Indian dancers
• 20th-century Indian educators
• 20th-century Indian women educators
• 20th-century Indian women artists
• Women educators from Maharashtra
• Educators from Maharashtra
• Women artists from Maharashtra
• Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
• Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha

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