Sucheta Bhide Chapekar

Sucheta Bhide Chapekar (born 6 December 1948) is an Indian classical dancer and choreographer. She is an exponent of Bharatnatyam. She is the founder of "Kalavardhini", a trust supporting the teaching and propagation activities in classical dance, where she also teaches Bharatnatyam.^[1] She has been a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2007).

Born in 1948, Chapekar had her arangetram in 1963. She was trained under Acharya Parvati Kumar and K. P. Kittappa Pillai.^[2] In the subsequent years, she performed at many local concerts, including one at the Madras Music Academy in 1974.^[3] Post marriage, she moved to Pune. Encouraged by JRD Tata, who called her "blue-eyed beauty", she performed outside India for the first time in 1982. During the tour, she performed in London, Paris, and Rotterdam.^[4] During the 1980s, she performed various concerts in her home state of Maharashtra. It was at this time, she realised that Bharatanatyam did not have a great following in the state. She then came up with the idea of mixing Marathi and Hindi songs in her concerts. This eventually led to the formation of "Nritya Ganga", a Bharatanatyam concert which has about 80 compositions, all based on Hindustani classical music.^[4] Chapekar is the founder of "Kalavardhini", a charitable trust that supports the teaching and propagation activities in classical dance.^[5]

In the year 2008, filmmaker Amrita Mahadik^[6] directed Vyomagami,^[7] a documentary on the life and work of Chapekar. As a part of Chapekar's 60th birthday celebration, Vyomagami^[8] was produced by "Kalavardhini" and shown at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch, Pune, Maharashtra. Nrityatmika, a Marathi book penned by Chapekar was also released at the event graced by Padma Vibhushan Sonal Mansingh and other dignitaries.^[9]

In the year 2018, to mark Chapekar's 70th birthday celebration, She was felicitated by Padma Shri Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar in the Parikrama^[10] event that was graced by many dignitaries and Bharatanatyam stalwarts. During this event, Pandit Mangeshkar also released the English translation of Nrityatmika, translated by Bharatanatyam artiste Priti Gosar-Patil.

Chapekar is married and has a daughter named Arundhati Patwardhan, who is a trained dancer. In 2007, Chapekar was awarded with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her contributions to classical dance.