Among the foremost dance personalities of independent India, Shrimati Mrinalini Sarabhai received her training in Bharatanatyam from gurus Mannarkoil Muthukumara Pillai, Kanchipuram Ellappa Pillai, Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai, Chokkalingam Pillai, Mylapore Gouri amma and Thanjavur Andalamma. She received her training in Kathakali from Guru Kunju Kurup. She also learnt Manipuri dances from guru Amobi singh at Shantiniketan, Javanese dance in Indonesia and acting and stage technique at the American Academy of Dramatics.
She was among the first few women after Rukmini Devi Arundale, from a non-traditional family, to practice dance professionally. She was also among the earliest classical dancers to extend the application of bharatanatyam and Kathakali to works of experimental nature. Her choreographic works have been based on a wide range of themes and sources including Tamil classics, Jayadeva’s Geet Govindam, Valmiki’s Ramayana, the poetry of Kalidasa, Meerabai and Tagore. She has also dealt with contemporary themes. Shrimati Mrinalini Sarabhai is the founder Director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, Ahmedabad, established in 1949, and the author of several books on dance.
She has received the Diploma of the French Archives Internationals de la Danse and was the first woman to receive a Veera Shrinkhala for Kathakali. Her other honours include the Gujarat Sangeet Nrutya Natya Academy Award (1969), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1970), a D.Litt. from Rabindra Bharati University (1979), the Vishwa Gurjari Award (1984) and Desikottama from Vishwa bharati Shantiniketan (1987). She was conferred the Padma Shri in 1965, the Padma Bhushan in 1992, and was elected a fellow of sangeet Natak Akademi in 1993.