Kathak dancer Antonia Minnecola remembers her guru, Sitara Devi, as an artist who loved Hollywood musicals and Fred Astaire, admired performers across traditions, and resisted claims that one dance form was greater than another. Her account, given in a 2019 interview, centers on Devi’s enthusiasms; it does not identify a particular “hate” or dislike.
What drew Antonia Minnecola to dance?
Minnecola says movement had attracted her since childhood. She studied music through movement at the Manhattan School of Music, including Dalcroze Eurhythmics, which connects music and physical expression.
She recalls watching kathak dancer Chitresh Das perform with tabla player Shankar Ghosh at the Ali Akbar College of Music in the Bay Area. The combination of rhythm, recitation, poetry, intricate footwork, expression and storytelling struck her as a culmination of ideas she had been studying. The connection was not only musical: kathak made movement carry a story and feeling.
When did she meet Sitara Devi?
Minnecola remembers first meeting Devi at the end of 1974. Later, after she had two children, she received a fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies and went to study with Devi. Minnecola says Devi required her to become a disciple through a thread-tying ceremony. The interview does not date that ceremony or the fellowship.
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What did Devi teach her?
Minnecola recalls learning a substantial range of material, including “A-B-C todas,” thumri, vandana, tarana and other compositions. She had heard a paran on Devi’s LP and seen her dance in old films before becoming her student.
Lessons, as Minnecola remembers them, were musical as well as technical. Devi sang for her and sometimes invited her sister Tara to sing during practice; Devi’s brother Chaube Maharaj played tabla as Minnecola worked. The recollections convey a learning environment in which rhythm, voice, movement and interpretation were closely linked.
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Why did Sitara Devi stop dancing in films?
Asked why Devi stopped dancing in films, Minnecola answered: “Because she really wanted to devote herself to classical kathak, and she felt that she couldn’t do both.” This is Minnecola’s explanation in the interview, not an independently established account of Devi’s decision.
Minnecola also recalls Devi studying Bharatanatyam, Russian ballet and folk dance. That breadth informed her resistance to ranking traditions. When Minnecola quoted a book that described kathak as the greatest of all dances, she says Devi challenged the idea, pointing to ballet and Rudolf Nureyev. In her memory, Devi’s respect for kathak did not require dismissing other forms.
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Minnecola’s most vivid description is simple: “And she loved Hollywood. She loved Fred Astaire. She was crazy about musicals.” She remembers conversations about films of the 1930s and 1940s in which Devi would name actresses she found beautiful. Minnecola also says Devi admired Michael Jackson and wanted to meet Rudolf Nureyev.
Minnecola recounts that she accompanied Devi to meet Marlene Dietrich in Europe. In her memory, Devi asked, “May I touch you?” and Dietrich replied, “Yes, of course.” The exchange is an anecdote Minnecola told in the interview, rather than a separately verified account.
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How did Minnecola help bring Devi to the United States?
Minnecola says that in 1986 she and Zakir Hussain brought Devi to America, organized her tour and arranged well-attended workshops in the Bay Area. She recalls Devi staying with her family much of the time. Minnecola’s account also includes their private conversations and shared routines, which remain her personal testimony.
She says Sharron Rose arranged workshops in Boston and New York. Together, the details describe a tour built through the work of several people, with Minnecola’s role focused on the visit and Bay Area events.
What memory stands out from her lessons?
Minnecola recalls spending a day learning a thumri from Devi. In the version Devi taught, Radha was a Khandita Nayika—a heroine aggrieved by her lover’s absence or betrayal—and the emotional outcome was tragic. Minnecola says she absorbed that interpretation before Devi told her that a reunion could be added.
The episode, as Minnecola tells it, captures how a composition could carry an emotional arc and how performance interpretation could change its ending. It is also a reminder that the story and its expression were part of the lesson, not merely the steps.
What Minnecola’s recollections reveal—and what they do not
In Nasreen Munni Kabir’s March 28, 2019 interview for Scroll.in, Minnecola remembers Devi as devoted to kathak without being confined by it: she could cherish classical practice, enjoy Hollywood musicals and appreciate artists working in other forms. The interview documents Minnecola’s account of her guru, including private exchanges and remembered events; it does not independently confirm every detail. Although the interview title invokes “loves, hates,” Minnecola’s recollections presented there describe loves and interests, not a specific hate.
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