Madame Menaka (October 15, 1899 – May 30, 1947) was the professional name of Leila Roy, Lady Sokhey, an Indian dancer and choreographer in the

Kathak Kathak ( hi, कथक; ur, کتھک) is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. It is the classical dance from of Uttar Pradesh. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern Ind ...

tradition.

Early life and education

Leila Roy was born in

Barisal Barisal ( or ; bn, বরিশাল, ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal Di ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

, the daughter of Pyare Lal Roy and Lolita Roy. Her father was a Bengali lawyer trained in England, and her mother was British. She attended the Loreto Convent in Darjeeling and St Paul’s School in London. She trained as a violinist in England, but pursued dance as a career, with encouragement from Russian ballet dancer

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 ...

, whom she met in London in 1927. Her Kathak dance teachers included Pandit Sitaram Prasad and Achhan Maharaj.

Career

Sokhey gave dance recitals in Bombay in 1928, and began choreographing and teaching dance to students at the

Haffkine Institute The Haffkine Institute for Training, Research and Testing is located in Parel in Mumbai (Bombay), India. It was established on 10 August 1899 by Dr. Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine, as a bacteriology research centre called the "Plague Research Labora ...

. She danced in Paris in 1930, and her Menaka dance company toured Europe from 1935 to 1938. They entered the Berlin Dance Olympiad, in conjunction with the Summer Olympics in Berlin in 1936, and won several trophies. She met modern dancer

Mary Wigman Mary Wigman (born Karoline Sophie Marie Wiegmann; 13 November 1886 – 18 September 1973) was a German dancer and choreographer, notable as the pioneer of expressionist dance, dance therapy, and movement training without pointe shoes. She is con ...

during her time in Germany. Her company and choreography appeared in at least two European films, the German-language '' Der Tiger von Eschnapur'' (1938) and a British documentary in color, ''Temples of India'' (1938). In 1941, with her husband's financial support, Menaka opened a residential school outside Bombay in

Khandala Khandala is a hill station in the Western Ghats in the state of Maharashtra, India, about from Lonavala, 12 kilometres from Khopoli and from Karjat. Khandala is located at the top end of the Bhor Ghat, a major ''ghat'' (meaning valley i ...

, named Nrityalayam.Ganapathi, K
"Sahib Singh Sokhey 1887–1971"
''Indian National Science Academy Biographical Memoirs:'' 148-149. One of her students was her adopted daughter, dancer

Damayanti Joshi Damayanti Joshi (5 September 1928 – 19 September 2004) was a noted renowned exponent of the Kathak dance form.She believed Kathak is the art of storytelling. She began in the 1930s dancing in Madame Menaka's troupe, which travelled to many pa ...

, who later published a book of photographs and memories of Menaka.

Personal life

Leila Roy married Sahib Singh Sokhey, a biochemist. Their large home at the Haffkine Institute in Parel included her dance studio and was frequently host to visiting scientists and artists. "Imperious, unconventional, sympathetic, big-hearted, she charms all with her intelligence and understanding," wrote a contemporary. "Her artificialities of vivid make-up and finery in dress are superficial and skin-deep, so to speak; she is, at heart, genuinely natural and simple." Following her husband's knighthood in 1946, she became Lady Sokhey. She died from

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied ...

in 1947, aged 47 years. The

University of Mumbai The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed h ...

awards a Menaka Trophy for excellence in Kathak dance.

References

External links

The Indian Ballet Menaka in Europe 1936-38
a website and database covering Menaka's company's European tour, including news accounts, ephemera, photos, and rare film clips

a dance scholar's blog that featured long, well-sourced and illustrated essays on Madame Menaka * Saraswat, Shweta
"Constructing Diasporic Identity Through Kathak Dance: Flexibility, Fixity, and Nationality in London and Los Angeles"
(Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 2019): 45-46, 108-110 {{DEFAULTSORT:Madame Menaka 1899 births 1947 deaths People from Barisal Indian dancers Indian choreographers Kathak exponents