Mrinalini Sarabhai is a celebrated classical dancer of India. She is the founder director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry.

Mrinalini was born into a famous Nair family called Vadakkath near Aanakkara close to Pattambi in present-day Palakkad district of central Kerala.Mrinalini got married in 1942 to the Indian physicist Vikram Sarabhai who is considered to be the Father of the Indian space programme. She has a son, Karthikeya and a daughter Mallika who too went on to attain fame in dance and theatre. Mrinalini founded Darpana in Ahmedabad in 1948.

Mrinalini has choreographed more than three hundred dance dramas including Manushya-The Life of Man, Matsya Kanya, Vasant Vijayam, Nalakhyan, Tasher Desh, Geeta Govindam, Silapadikaram, Vikramorvasiyam, Meghaduta, Sarabhendra Bhupala Kuravanji, Gowri, Abhisarika, Usha Aniruddha, Pallaki Seva Prabandham, Valli Kalyanam, Yasovarman, Nalakhyana, Malavikagnimitra, Krishnagaan, Prahalada Charitam, Pancharatna Kritis of Thyagaraja, Ashwatthama, Stree Priyadarshini, Bhakti, Bhama Kalapam, Maricha Vadham, Ahimsa, Kiratarjuniyam, Mohini Bhasmasura, Sampoorna Ramayanam, Nataraja Vandanam, Memory, Vidhi Natakam, Kumara Sambhavam, Shakuntala, Chandalika, Atma, Revelations and Surya. Her latest dance dramas, Krishna the musical, Krishna-Gopala and This Mahabharata mirror today’s world.

Besides choreographing more than three hundred dance dramas. She has also written many novels, poetry, plays and stories for children. She was chairperson of the Gujarat State Handicrafts and Handloom Development Corporation Ltd. She is also one of the trustees of the Sarvodaya International Trust, an organization for promotion of Gandhian ideals, and is also the chairperson of the Nehru Foundation for Development.

Her autobiography is titled Mrinalini Sarabhai: The Voice of the Heart.

She has been awarded by the Indian government with the national civilian awards Padma Bhushan in 1992 and the Padma Shri in 1965. She was honoured with the Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa (LittD) by the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK in 1997. She was also the first Indian to receive the medal and Diploma of the French Archives Internationales de la Danse. She was nominated to the Executive Committee of the International Dance Council, Paris in 1990 and awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, New Delhi in 1994. She was presented with a gold medal by the Mexican Government for her choreography for the Ballet Folklorico of Mexico.