Rukmini Vijayakumar is an Indian dance choreographer,

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 ...

dancer, and actress from engaluru . Along with her performances on stage, she has appeared in films such as '' Ananda Thandavam'' (2009), ''

Bhajarangi ''Bhajarangi'' is a 2013 Indian Kannada-language fantasy action film starring Shiva Rajkumar and Aindrita Ray. Directed by choreographer-turned-director Harsha, the film was released on 12 December 2013 and received positive response from critic ...

'' (2013), '' Kochadaiyaan'' (2014), ''

Final Cut of Director ''Final Cut of Director'' is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film that was written and directed by Bharathiraja. The film stars Nana Patekar and Arjun Sarja, with Rukmini Vijayakumar, Kajal Aggarwal, Niyamat Khan, Vatsal Sheth, an ...

'' (2016) and ''

Kaatru Veliyidai ''Kaatru Veliyidai'' () is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language romantic war film, produced, written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Made under the Madras Talkies banner, it features music composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography by Ravi Varman and editi ...

'' (2017).

Career

Rukmini Vijayakumar is the artistic director of Raadha Kalpa dance company, and the director of LshVa, an art space. She is the founder of The Raadha Kalpa Method, a pedagogical system of training classical Indian and particularly Bharatanatyam dancer. Rukmini's approach to Bharatanatyam is dedicated, rigorous and layered. She has presented her work as a soloist all over the world, including venues such as the Jacobs Pillow festival, Drive East NYC, and the Korzo Theater. Recently she played ‘the goddess of love’ in ‘Sukanya’, produced by The Royal Opera house in London. She studied

under Guru Narmada, Guru Padmini Rao and Guru Sundari Santhanam. She practiced the Karanas for several years under Guru Sundari Santhanam, a senior disciple of Guru Padma Subramanyam. Rukmini holds a BFA degree from the

Boston Conservatory Boston Conservatory at Berklee (formerly The Boston Conservatory) is a private performing arts conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, music, and theater. Boston Conservatory was founded ...

Ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and

Modern Dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

. She has studied acting at the

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

while also learning under director

Prakash Belawadi Prakash Belawadi is an Indian theatre artist, film director, television and media personality, who's also a teacher, activist and a journalist. He hails from Bangalore. He has participated in many seminars, conferences and festivals in India an ...

during her stay in India. She has studied subjects on Fitness Training at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and Anatomy and Physiology at The Boston University. Rukmini's process of creation is both traditional and contemporary. She was a recipient of the Jiri Kylian grant for choreography and a resident choreographer at Korzo theater, Netherlands in 2018. Her productions, Nayani, Prabhavati, Abhimata, Talattu and The Dark Lord have toured b India and the world extensively. Her more recent work, Turiya, MALA, The Muse and Unrequited were created within the contemporary idiom and have been appreciated for their creative approach to the bharatanatyam vocabulary. She made her debut in

Gandhi Krishna Gandhi Krishna is an Indian film director who has worked on Tamil films. After beginning his career as an assistant to Shankar, he has made commercially and critically successful films. Career After apprenticing under Shankar in ''Indian'' ( ...

's 2009 romantic film '' Ananda Tandavam'' as Ratna alongside Siddharth Venugopal and

Tamannaah Tamanna Bhatia (born 21 December 1989), known professionally as Tamannaah, is an Indian actress who appears primarily in Telugu and Tamil films, along with a few Hindi films. In 2005, she made her acting debut at the age of 15 in the Hindi fi ...

, but the film was a commercial and critical failure. Rukmini then signed up to appear in ''

Naan Naan ( fa, نان, nān, ur, , ps, نان, ug, نان, hi, नान, bn, নান) is a leavened, oven-baked or tawa-fried flatbread which is found in the cuisines mainly of Western Asia, Central Asia, Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, ...

'', once again alongside Siddharth Venugopal, but the film ran into production trouble and she opted against appearing in the film when it began again in 2010. Moreover, another project, ''Oru Naal Podhuma'' directed by

Pratap Pothan Pratap Pothen (13 August 1952 – 15 July 2022) was an Indian actor and filmmaker who acted in about 100 films and directed 12 films. He appeared in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu as well as Hindi films. He also worked as a scriptwriter and produ ...

and featuring

Madhavan Madhavan may refer to: People * James Madhavan (died 1973), Fijian politician * Kavya Madhavan (born 1985), Indian actress * Mahesh Madhavan (born 1963/64), Indian businessman, CEO of Bacardi * N. S. Madhavan (born 1948), Indian writer * O. Madha ...

in the lead role, was also cancelled soon after announcement. In 2012, Rukmini was opted for Rajinikanths sister's role in '' Kochadaiyaan''. The role was earlier to be enacted by Sneha, who opted out citing date issues. In 2016, her delayed Hindi suspense thriller film ''

'' (dubbed in Tamil as ''Bommalattam'') by

Bharathiraja Bharathiraja (born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with ''16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films. ...

released. In the film, she plays Trishna alongside an ensemble cast of Arjun,

Nana Patekar Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, film maker, and a former Indian Territorial Army officer, mainly working in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He is regarded as one of the finest an ...

and Kajal Aggarwal. The role features her as a mysterious debutant actress who is hidden from the media, with the film eventually revealing that her character was actually a male, made to dress up by the director. The film opened to positive reviews, with critics labelling her performance as "definitely a surprise package".

Personal life

Rukmini is married to Rohan Menon.

Dance productions

Filmography

References

External links

Official website

Raadha Kalpa
in the LshVa Art Space * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vijayakumar, Rukmini Actresses in Tamil cinema Living people Artists from Hyderabad, India Indian female classical dancers Performers of Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam exponents Dancers from Andhra Pradesh Actresses from Hyderabad, India Indian women choreographers Indian choreographers 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Indian film actresses Year of birth missing (living people)