Person
Biography
Ritha Devi was a classical Indian performer and teacher who specialized in the Odissi style. She was born in Northeastern India in 1924 and the arts were a central part of her early life, but she only began studying dance after she had graduated from Bombay University. Her parents then moved her to Calcutta so that she might find a husband and she married there in 1950. Unfortunately, she only learned after the wedding that her husband was opposed to her pursuing a dance career, telling her, “You have to become a housewife.” They separated in 1953 and divorced in 1968, the same year she made her U.S. debut at Jacob’s Pillow. Pillow founder Ted Shawn had been in pursuit of Devi for years, and managed to bring her to the Pillow on her way back from a four-week season in Russia. Scheduled to take part in a dress rehearsal on a Monday night, less than 48 hours after her last performance in Moscow, Devi became part of a legendary Pillow event that also featured two Danish dancers and the Pillow debut of Pina Bausch. Arriving near midnight, she and her four musicians proceeded to perform full out, as the rehearsal was being reviewed by Walter Terry for
The Saturday Review. She clearly earned Shawn’s devotion that night, and she returned for performance seasons in 1970, 1971, and 1974 as well as serving on the Pillow faculty for three successive seasons beginning in 1969. She went on to teach at New York University for many years and died in her native India on September 12, 2017 at age 92.
Source of Biography
Written by Norton Owen for Jacob's Pillow Remembers.
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