Urmila Sathyanarayana is an Indian classical dancer 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 ...

Early life and background

Urmila Satyanarayna has been trained under the guidance of eminent gurus ‘Padmashri’ K.N. Dandayauthapani Pillai, Kalaimamani K.J. Sarasa and Padmabhushan

Kalanidhi Narayanan Kalanidhi Narayanan (7 December 1928 – 21 February 2016) was an Indian dancer and teacher of Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam, who was the early non-devadasi girl to learn the dance form and perform it on stage in the 1930s and 194 ...

. She is primarily known for her Arramandi.

Career

Urmila has been a student of Bharatnatyam since the age of 5 and did her arrangetram at the age of 10. She has performed in venues at the national and international level, and has been the recipient of numerous awards including the

Kalaimamani The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of ...

award of the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

Natya Sankalpa

Urmila started NATYA SANKALPA in the year 1996, at Kilpauk Gardens,

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 ...

. The institution emphasises on the knowledge of the theory of dance,

carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...

and

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

in the formation of a Bharatanatyam artist. Among the staff are talented artists such as Kalidasan Suresh, a renowned choreographer, and one of the few artists who can both wield the cymbals and provide vocal support simultaneously for a Bharatanatyam recital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Satyanarayana, Urmila Bharatanatyam exponents Living people Performers of Indian classical dance Artists from Chennai Women artists from Tamil Nadu 1966 births