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Guru
'Nattiya Selvam', 'Kalaimamani', 'Natya Sikhamani', Swamimalai K. Rajarathnam
studied Bharatanatyam and Nattuvangam for twelve years with Padmasri Vazhuvoor
Sri Ramiah Pillai. He established a dance school 'Rajaratnalaya', where
over 200 students had their arangetrams under his guidance. |
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Besides Vidhya,
Guru Rajaratnam’s students include Malavika Sarukkai, Anuradha Jaganathan,
Ramya Harishankar, Sujatha Srinivasan, Priya Govind, Shoba Natrajan Ram,
Srinidhi Rangarajan, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, and Ramya Ramnarayan.
Innovative
choreography, emphasizing intricate footwork and evocative abhinaya were
his forte.
He
was also well versed in carnatic music and his golden voice rendered the
quality of the Bharatanatyam recitals he conducted par excellence. The
world of Bharatanatyam has not been able to make up the loss of his demise.
Vidhya learnt
Bharatanatyam from Guru S.K.Rajarathnam between the years 1979 and 1994. |
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Padma
Bhushan Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan learnt Bharatanatyam from Kannappa
Pillai, abhinaya from Mylapore Gowri Amma and also from Chinnaya Naidu.
Between the ages of 11 and 16, she presented several performances, invariably
as benefit shows in support of worthwhile causes.
In
1980 Kalanidhi started ‘Abhinayasudha’, a formal school for teaching Bharatanatyam,
with emphasis on abhinaya. The school has grown since to include theory,
carnatic music, sanskrit and yoga. She has given lecture demonstrations
and workshops all over India and in Europe and North America.
The
awards she has received, namely The Padma Bhushan (1985), Sharangdev Fellowship
(1981), Sangeet Natak Akademi grant (1983), Nritya
Choodamani (1990), Sangeet Natak Akademi award (1991), Kalaimamani (1991),
Emeretus Fellow (1991), E. Krishna Iyer Medal (1994), Kalidas Samman (1998)
applaud her dedication and extraordinary capabilities.
Vidhya has been
learning abhinaya (art of expression) from Guru Kalanidhi Narayanan from
1989 to present. |
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Dr.
Padma Subramanyam is the daughter of director K. Subramanyam and a
world-renowned dancer who learnt from Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai and Mylapore
Gowri Ammal. She received an MA in music from the Madras University and
under the guidance of Dr. T. N. Ramachandran, she wrote ‘Karanas in Indian
dance and sculpture’, which fetched her a Ph.D. from the Annamalai University.
She
has put her research into practice in her dance and brought the dance of
Bharata Muni to today's stage and established a bridge between the theory
and practice of this art form.
She
composes the music for her productions and gives free training to poor
students at her dance school ‘Nrityodaya’ for which she is the director.
She has received the tiles of Padmasri, Kalaimamani, Tamil Nadu Government
artist and Sangeet Natak Akademi award.
Vidhya began her
training in Bharatanatyam with Dr. Padma Subramanyam and studied with her
from 1976 to 1979. |
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Asha
Ramesh is a refined Carnatic vocalist, an able and experienced singer
for Bharatanatyam and Kathak dances, and also an accomplished Hindustani
Bhajan singer. Asha began her musical tutelage in Jamshedpur, India. Eager
to pursue music as her career, she moved to Madras where she trained under
the world renowned Carnatic maestro late Sangeeta Kalanidhi D. K. Jayaraman.
After the demise of Jayaraman, she continued to refine and perfect the
art under Gana Sudhakara Nanganallur V. Ramanathan.
Asha
is one of the few vocalists who can excel in both Carnatic music and dance
music. She has provided vocal support to a number of Bharatanatyam and
Kathak dancers with whom she has traveled in India, USA, UK, Canada and
Netherlands.
She
has also sung on three full-length Bharatanatyam audio cassettes, Lalitha
Vandanam, Nrithya Geetham, and Bharatha Geetham released by Sri Saraswathy
Gana Nilayam, a leading dance institution in Madras, India.
Vidhya has been
pursuing Carnatic music lessons from Smt. Asha Ramesh. |
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