Olive Katherine Craddock (22 January 1894 – 14 July 1926) was an Anglo-Indian dancer trained in British India 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.

Biography

Craddock was born on 22 January 1892 in Calcutta. 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'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's Kismet and then as Zobeide in Scheherazade. 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 Revolution disrupted society. A ...

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 si ...

. The following year she appeared with Anna Pavlova's dance company as a speciality dancer. She had several dances that were performed using extracts from the 1880s Oriental opera Lakmé by the French composer Léo Delibes. Craddock started to work in the United States in 1916 where she appeared in Vaudeville theatres. In 1917 she and Japanese dancer Michio Itō 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 who was employed by the Boston Museum of Art as an expert on Indian culture. Coomaraswamy wrote about how Roshanara was an authentic nautch 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 was one of her pupils. She died in her thirties on 16 July 1926 in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

. 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 teac ...

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 wa ...

. 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. 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 National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

{{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