 Sonal Mansingh (1944)
Sonal Mansingh (born 30 April 1944) is an Indian classical dancer and Guru in Bharatanatyam and Odissi dancing style. Sonal Mansingh was born in Mumbai, second of three children to Arvind and Poornima Pakvasa, a noted social worker from Gujarat and Padma Bhushan winner in 2004.[5] Her grandfather was Mangal Das Pakvasa, a freedom fighter, and one of the first five Governors of India.[6]
She started learning Manipuri dance at age four, and then at age seven she started learning Bharatnatyam. She has "Praveen" and "Kovid" degrees in Sanskrit from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and B.A. (Hons) degree in German Literature from Elphinstone College, Bombay. She went to Bangalore, to learn Bharatanatyam from Prof. U. S. Krishna Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi[10] at age 18, abhinaya from Mylapore Gowri Ammal, and later started learning Odissi from Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra in 1965.
Sonal Mansingh founded, Centre for Indian Classical Dances (CICD) in New Delhi.[13][14]
Over the years, dance has taken her all over the world[15] and brought her many awards, including the Padma Bhushan (1992),[16] Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987 and the Padma Vibhushan, India's the second highest civilian award, in 2003; making her the second woman dancer in India to receive such an honour after Balasaraswati.This was followed by Kalidas Samman of Madhya Pradesh government, in 2006 and on 21 April 2007, she was conferred with Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by G.B. Pant University, Uttarakhand at Pantnagar and Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) by Sambalpur University.
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