Medha Yodh

Medha Yodh (July 31, 1927 Ahmedabad - July 11, 2007 San Diego) was an Indian and Indian American Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher of classical Indian dance at UCLA. She was a disciple of Tanjore Balasaraswati and created a documentary on Garba.

Early life

Medha Yodh was born on July 31, 1927 in the city of Ahmedabad, which is located in the present day state of Gujarat. Yodh became fascinated with Bharatanatyam, one of India's best known forms of classical dance, early in life.

Despite her interest in dance, Medha Yodh education's was heavily focused on science. Yodha received as Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Bombay.She continued her education and received her master's from Stanford University in California. Medha Yoda later explained her unusual educational background for a dance teacher in a 1984 interview with the Los Angeles Times, "I have a proper Brahman background. I grew up in British India, and I was expected to learn the arts, to go into the sciences and to travel abroad.

Medha Yodh traveled extensively outside of India during her younger years. Her travels exposed her to different forms of modern and world styles of dance. Ultimately, Yodh became a student of Tanjore Balasaraswati, one of the most important Indian dancers of her...
Read More