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Indian Mohiniyattam dancer (1918?1990)
Mangat Mulaykkal Thankamani
, known by her married name
Thankamani Gopinath
(27 March 1918 ? 28 December 1990) was a prominent Indian
Mohiniyattam dancer
and dance teacher from
Kerala
.
[1]
The wife and co-dancer of
Guru Gopinath
, she was the first student of Mohiniyattam from
Kalamandalam
. Thankamani is considered as one of the important icons in the history of women's progress in Kerala, who learned Mohiniyattam at a time when learning and performing dance was considered unethical for girls in Kerala. She has also starred and sung a song in the 1941
Malayalam movie
Prahlada
.
[2]
Biography
[
edit
]
Thankamani was born on 27 March 1918 at
Kunnamkulam
in present-day
Thrissur district
. Here parents were Panthalat Govindan Nair and Mangat Mulakkal Kunjikavamma. When
Vallathol
started
Kalamandalam
, she was the first
Mohiniyattam
student to enroll there.
[3]
She married to
Guru Gopinath
in September 1936. Thangamani became one of the earliest actresses in Malayalam after she played the role of Kayathu in
Prahlada
(1941), the third
Malayalam sound film
alongside her husband Guru Gopinath.
[4]
Along with being the female lead, she also sang in the film. After the marriage Thangamani gradually stopped dancing Mohiniyattam. Together, they developed and popularized an innovative dance style called
Kerala Natanam
(originally named Kathakali Natanam).
[5]
Thankamani's
Pantadi dance
and
Udyana Varnana
together with the dances of Radhakrishna, Sivaparvati, Lakshmi Narayana and Sita of Ashokavana she performed with Guru Gopinath were once popular in
South India
.
[6]
Thangamani taught dance at Sree Chitrodaya Dance College, which was the first dance school in
Travancore
. She was the teacher of most of the early students who learned Kerala Natanam like Lalitha, Padmini, Ragini, Bhavani Chellappan, Mangala and Lakshmi.
[7]
Guru Gopinath-Thangamani Gopinath was one of the most popular dance pairs in India during the 1940s and 1950s. Thangamani, who left the dance stage in the late 1950s became a member of the Vishwa Kala Kendram Bharana Samiti in
Vattiyoorkavu
,
Thiruvananthapuram
. She died on 28 December 1990, three years after the death of Guru Gopinath.
[8]
References
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