Karaikal Natesa Dhandayudhapani Pillai (born 14 July 1921,
Karaikal
Karaikal ( /kʌdɛkʌl/, french: Karikal /kaʁikal/) is a town of the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. Karaikal was sold to the French by the Rajah of Thanjavur and became a French Colony in 1739. The French held control, with occasi ...
- 1974) was an Indian classical dancer and choreographer, considered by many as one of the leading exponents of the classical dance form of
Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of S ...
. He was also a teacher and trained multiple performers.
Career
Born on 14 July 1921 in
Karaikal
Karaikal ( /kʌdɛkʌl/, french: Karikal /kaʁikal/) is a town of the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. Karaikal was sold to the French by the Rajah of Thanjavur and became a French Colony in 1739. The French held control, with occasi ...
, in the Indian
union territory of
Puducherry to A. K. Natesa Pillai, a known musician, he started training initially in music under his father, but later turned to Bharatanatyam and learned under his grandfather, who was a teacher of the dance form.
Subsequently, he joined
Kalakshetra
Kalakshetra Foundation, formerly simply Kalakshetra, is an arts and cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian art and crafts, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music. Based in ...
of
Rukmini Devi Arundale
Rukmini Devi Arundale (née Shastri; 29 February 1904 – 24 February 1986)Sharma, Shoba and Gangadean, Ashok (January 31, 2004 Naatya.org. Retrieved on 10 December 2018. was an Indian theosophist, dancer and choreographer of the Indian cl ...
as a teacher where he taught for a number of years. He was known to have authored several compositions for Bharatanatyam
and trained many students; Sri Vidya, J. Jayalalithaa,
Hema Rajagopalan
Hema Rajagopalan is a Bharatanatyam dancer, teacher and choreographer from New Delhi, India.
Hema Rajagopalan started dancing in 1956 at the age of six under the instruction of her devadasi guru, Swarna Saraswathy. Hema Rajagopalan performed her ...
, Suganthi Sadayane, Nayana Shenoy,
Adyar K. Lakshman
Adyar K. Lakshman (16 December 1933 – 19 August 2014) was a noted Indian Bharatnatyam dancer, choreographer and guru.
Early life
Born on 16 December 1933, Adyar K. Lakshman hails from Kuppam in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. His fath ...
,
Uma Muralikrishna,
Vijayalakshmi Shetty-Ahuja,
Jayalakshmi Alva
and
Geeta Chandran
Geeta Chandran is an Indian Bharatanatyam dancer and vocalist. Trained in Carnatic music, she is a visionary and celebrated artist in Indian classical Bharatanatyam, recognized for her work in theatre, dance, education, videos and films.
Caree ...
are some of the notable ones among them. He was the dance choreographer of a number of films in
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
,
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
and
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
such as ''Raja Guruvu'',
,
Chhaya
Chhaya or Chaya ( sa, छाया, Chāyā, shadow' or 'shade) is the Hindu personification and goddess of shadow, and a consort of Surya, the Hindu sun god. She is the shadow-image or reflection of Saranyu (Sanjna), the first wife of Surya. C ...
,
Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke
''Hum Panchhi Ek Dal Ke'' () is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language film starring Romi, Satish Vyas, Mohan Choti, Daisy Irani and Jagdeep in lead roles. It won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film.
Cast
* Romi as Rajendranath Mehra "Rajan ...
,
Sri Kalahastiswara Mahatyam and
Bhai-Bhai.
He also founded Sri Rama Nataka Niketan, a dance academy in
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
in 1967.
The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the
Padma Shri
Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...
, in 1971, for his contributions to Dance.
Personal life
His wife, Chandra Dhandayudhapani Pillai, is a known Bharatanatyam expert and teacher
Her younger Sister Suria Santhanam also a noted Bharatanatyam teacher for 35 Years.
[
His grandson, Karthik Balaji is currently pursuing Engineering from Bharati Vidyapeeths college of Engineering.]
Death
He went to an eye operation in America. Following his return on 4 October, he attended his student's graduation ceremony. Later he had chest pain and was admitted to the hospital. On 12 October he died.
See also
Sri Thandauthapanipillai was a famous bharathanatyam dancer as wells as a professional vocalist. He was born into a musical family. His grandfather was called Ramakrishnan, who was a great Bharathanaatyam artist.
References
External links
*
*
Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts
1921 births
Year of death missing
Tamil artists
Indian male dancers
Bharatanatyam exponents
Indian choreographers
Dancers from Puducherry
20th-century Indian dancers
People from Karaikal
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