Chandralekha and others

After watching a few traditional dances in the fifties, I was turned off for the following sort of resaons;.it seems that several others including many professional dancers had similar doubts. From an article by Sunil Kothari:
"Chandralekha raised several questions:

• Why have classical Indian dances become insular and unresponsive to the dramatic social, historical, scientific, human changes that have occurred in the world during the past thirty years?
• What makes them resistant to contemporary progressive values?
• Why have attempts not been encouraged to explore the power and strength of the forms and their links with the martial arts?"

It seems that Chandralekha and several others like from Mrinalini Sarabhai, Mallika Sarabhai did some thing about it ( I came across these names in the book of essays "Bharatanatyam : A Reader" edited by Davesh Soneji).

Here are two articles on Chandralekha, her obituary by Reginald Massey and her profile by Ashish Khokar. Sadananda Menon who spent thirty years in her house recounts his first meeting with her and other impressions.