Performances

Menaka’s 1936-38 tour was not her first appearance in Europe. Ernst Krauss had already given Menaka and her former dance partner Nilkanta a debut in Europe in 1931 with a series of appearances in the Netherlands. From this first Menaka tour, however, very few materials have been preserved in the estate of Krauss’s Konzertdirektion.

In 1936 Menaka’s tour began with a few performances in Switzerland, after the ensemble had landed in Marseille from Bombay. For February 1936 Ernst Krauss had planned the actual tour start in the Netherlands. From there, the route led to Germany. Until the beginning of 1937, most of the performance dates were documented on the basis of a list drawn up by Krauss. From 1937 to 1938 there is unfortunately no systematic proof of performance dates. Presumably, however, the dates were similarly tightly planned for the year 1937, so that one can assume another 200-300 performances during this period. For some venues Menakas ballet has been booked repeatedly, for example in Dresden or Berlin. Other performances came about only after repeated mediation efforts by Krauss. The final performances in Italy in early 1938 are documented by notes by Sakhawat Hussein Khan. Probably Krauss had planned the tour initially only for the course of the first year, but then extended the schedule to two more years due to the growing demands. It is also possible that from 1937 the Konzertdirektion Mannheimer, which had previously cooperated with Ernst Krauss, took over the further production. So far, however, no information could be obtained. Also from Krauss’s documents nothing comes out. In any case, at the beginning of 1938, the company returned to Bombay.