Darpana Academy of Performing Arts

To teach and present the performing arts, particularly Bharatanatyam and Kathakali, and to use the arts as a force for education and social change.

Darpana Academy of Performing Arts is a landmark cultural institution in Ahmedabad, founded in 1949 by the celebrated Bharatanatyam and Kathakali dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai together with her husband, the pioneering scientist Vikram Sarabhai. Dedicated to dance, drama, music and puppetry, Darpana has for over seven decades trained generations of performers and used the performing arts as a means of education and social change, on its campus on the banks of the Sabarmati. It is now led by the dancer, activist and Mrinalini's daughter Mallika Sarabhai.

Mrinalini Sarabhai, one of the foremost classical dancers of modern India, founded Darpana in 1949 with Vikram Sarabhai as a home for the performing arts in Ahmedabad, building a repertory in Bharatanatyam and Kathakali and pioneering the use of dance and theatre to address social issues such as environmental degradation, dowry and injustice. Over the decades Darpana grew into a multi-faceted institution encompassing a performing company, a school, puppetry and community and outreach work, and became closely identified with the Sarabhai family's contribution to Indian culture, continued today by Mallika Sarabhai.