Renowed Kathak promoter and guru, Rohini Bhate passes away died in Pune on Friday.

Suffering from the Parkinson's disease for the last five years, Bhate condition deteriorated at his residence on Friday night, the family sources said. She was 84.

Her daughter-in-law Shama Bhate said, “Bhate had been suffering from Parkinson’s for the last ten years. She was ill for the last two-and-a-half months.”

Several city classical dance proponents paid their last respect to Bhate's mortal at her daughter-in-law Shama Bhate's residence. She was cremated at the Vaikunth crematorium.

Born on November 14, 1924 in Patna, Bihar, she completed her schooling and graduation from Pune. 

In 1947, she founded the Nrityabharati Kathak Dance Academy for Kathak. Over the last six decades she trained hundred of dancers from this academy. She had also learnt Hindustani classical singing and was well versed with literature. 

She was awarded many times in her lifetime like the Maharashtra Rajya Puraskar in 1977; the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1979; the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar in 1990 and more recently, the Akademi Ratna award from the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi in 2007.

A senior Kathak disciple of Bhate, Roshan Datye, said, “The biggest lesson we learnt from Bhate was to remain completely focused on our work and to achieve excellence, even if it was for a one minute sequence.”