Kathak dancer Aditi Mangaldas was awarded the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi award in early 2013, in the category of Creative and Experimental Dance. However, in a surprise to the performing arts world, she refused to accept it.
Why did she do so?
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Mangaldas felt that she should have been awarded in the category of Kathak (i.e. the classical form) rather than as an experimental dancer, and that she was not being treated as a classicist. A detailed explanation by Mangaldas can be read
here at Tehelka, challenging notions of tradition and how the art form is defined.