Vimala Menon ( ml, വിമല മേനോൻ), known popularly as Kalamandalam Vimala Menon is an Indian dance teacher and Mohiniyattam exponent from Kerala. She is the founder and Director of ''Kerala Natya Academy'' in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Early life and education

Vimala was born into an affluent family in a village in

Irinjalakuda Irinjalakuda is a municipal town in Thrissur district, Kerala, India. It is the headquarters of Irinjalakuda Revenue Division and Mukundapuram Taluk. After Thrissur, this town has most number of administrative, law-enforcement and judicial of ...

, Thrissur district. She is the second of seven children born to S. K. Krishnan Nair, a civil engineer, and Vishalakshy Amma. Vimala learned her initial dance lessons from Thripunithura Vijaya Bhanu. She also had her training in

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 ...

under M. R. Madhusudhana Menon. After completing her school education, she joined Kerala Kalamandalam for a four-year diploma course in dance in 1960. At Kalamandalam, she had training in Mohiniyattam under the tutelage of Pazhayannoor Chinnammu Amma and

Kalamandalam Satyabhama Kalamandalam V. Satyabhama (4 November 1937 – 13 September 2015) was an Indian classical dancer, teacher and choreographer, known for her performances and scholarship in mohiniyattam. She was awarded the Padma Shri, in 2014, for her contributi ...

. She also studied Bharata Natyam under Thanjavoor Bhaskara Rao. While working as a dance teacher in the Jawahar School at

Neyveli Lignite Corporation NLC India Limited (NLC) (formerly Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited) is a central public sector undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of Coal, Government of India. It annually produces about 30 million tonnes of Ligni ...

, she married Viswanatha Menon. After the marriage in 1966, she accompanied her husband to live in

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

where he was an officer with Bhutan government. She has a son, Vinod and a daughter

Vinduja Menon Vinduja Menon is an Indian actress known for her work in Malayalam cinema. Her most popular role is the one from the 1994 film ''Pavithram''. She played as Mohanlal's sister in that movie. She took formal classical dance lessons from her mot ...

who acted in several

Malayalam films Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ''Elippathayam' ...

, including

Pavithram ''Pavithram'' () is a 1994 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by T. K. Rajeev Kumar and written by P. Balachandran from a story by Balachandran and Kumar. The film stars Mohanlal and Shobana in lead roles. Vinduja Menon, Thilakan, Sr ...

and

Njan Gandharvan ''Njan Gandharvan'' (translation: ''I am Gandharva) (Gandharvas, according to Hindu mythology, are celestial musicians and Soma providers in Devaloka, and are destined to entertain devas and lords.'') is a 1991 Malayalam romantic fantasy film wr ...

. During her stay in Bhutan, Vimala taught dance in the Bhutan Government School and performed South Indian Classical dance in many places.

Awards and honours

During her long career, Vimala Menon won several awards and honours, including the

Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award is an award given by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, an autonomous organisation for the encouragement, preservation, and documentation of the performing arts of Kerala, set up by the Department of Cultur ...

in 1991 and the Kendra Sangeeta Nataka Akademi Award in 2006. She received the All Kerala Social Service Association Award for Bharata Natyam in 1972. She won the Senior Fellowship Award for her research work in "Ramanattom in Mohiniyattom" by the Government of India's Cultural Department in 2004. Vimala also received the Kerala Kalamandalam Award for Dance from Kerala Kalamandalam for her contribution to South Indian Classical Dances. In 2014, she received the

Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship The Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship is an honour presented by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, an autonomous organisation for the encouragement, preservation, and documentation of the performing arts of Kerala, set up by the Depa ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menon, Vimala Living people Malayali people Performers of Indian classical dance Indian dance teachers Artists from Thrissur Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 1943 births Mohiniyattam exponents People from Irinjalakuda Dancers from Kerala Teachers of Indian classical dance 20th-century Indian dancers 20th-century Indian women artists 20th-century Indian educators Women educators from Kerala Women artists from Kerala Educators from Kerala Indian female classical dancers 20th-century women educators Recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship Recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award