Dancing in the Family: An Unconventional Memoir of Three Women

Sukanya Rahman’s grandmother, Ragini Devi, an American woman from Minneapolis, was convinced she had been a Hindu in a previous life and was reincarnated to devote her life to Indian dance. She helped rescue ancient Indian classical dance forms threatened with extinction under British rule in India, and was instrumental in the revival of Kathakali dance, now one of the more familiar Indian styles. Her mother, Indrani Rahman, continued this pioneering effort. She helped revive the long neglected Odissi dance and presented Indian classical dance throughout the world with her troupe of dancers and musicians. Sukanya too carried on the family tradition by teaching and performing the Bharata Natyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi styles of Indian dance in the United States and other countries. In a historic performance in New York City, shortly before Ragini Devi died, the three generations danced together, in what Ragini called "the climax of my life… seeing the pure tradition safeguarded by Indrani and Sukanya." Vastly amusing, candid and moving, Dancing in the family is the story of a totally unconventional family that is inseparably linked with the story of Indian dance from the 1920s on.