Pune, Sept. 23 -- Veteran Lavani dancer Shakuntala Nagarkar, who devoted more than five decades to preserving and promoting Maharashtra's traditional folk art, passed away at the age of 66 after a prolonged battle with cancer, sources said.
Nagarkar's death has cast a pall of gloom over the state's cultural and folk-art fraternity, with tributes pouring in from various quarters.
Her passing is being mourned as the end of an important era in the state's traditional Lavani and Sangeet Bari tradition.
Originally from Ahilyanagar, Nagarkar began her journey in Lavani at the age of 11 when she first wore ghungroos.
Over the years, she established herself as a prominent exponent of traditional Baithakichi Lavani and Sangeet Bari. Much of her ...