Olive Craddock, an Anglo-Indian born in 1892 in Kolkata, was known for taking the ‘central-Indian’ and ‘oriental’ style of dancing across the world. Born to a British mother and Anglo-Indian father, she was only 17-years-old when she left for Britain to dance professionally. Along with Ruth St. Denis, Craddock is credited for incorporating the ‘Indian dance’ in the world of Western theater.

In 1926, the reviewer Alma Talley wrote in The Dance magazine: ‘Roshanara has brought to the Western World the spirit of Central India as no one else has ever been able to bring… India’s dances were a part of her soul. She devoted her life to perfecting them, as an artist in water colours gives years of study to making his art as nearly perfect as perfection is humanly possible.’ Craddock adopted the name ‘Roshanara’ in 1909, as she left India, after the Mughal princess and Shahjahan’s daughter, which meant ‘Light-Adorning’. This would go on to be her stage name. In 1911, Craddock (now Roshanara) studied under Carmen Tórtola Valencia, the Spanish dancer and choreographer. She also danced with American actress and dancer Loïe Fuller’s company and shortly after, performed in the play Kismet directed by Australian actor and writer Oscar Asche at the Garrick Theater in London. She also starred five times as Zobeide in Schéhérazade for the Ballets Russes at Covent Garden, London.