Narthaki Nataraj | |
|---|---|
 Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award-2011 to Narthaki Nataraj [1] | |
| Born | Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Occupation | Bharatanatyam dancer |
| Awards | Padma Shri (2019) |
Narthaki Nataraj is an Indian trans woman Bharatanatyam dancer. In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri, making her the first transgender woman to be awarded India's fourth-highest civilian award. [2]
Narthaki Nataraj was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. In an interview, she said she became aware of her feminine side at the age of 10 and found dance to be the only way of expressing herself. Owing to societal pressures and stigma, she ran away from her home at the age of 12. [3]
She started her training in dance under Namanur Jeyaraman of the Tanjavur bani. [4] She later became a disciple of K. P. Kittappa Pillai in 1984, who was a direct descendant of the Thanjavur Quartet. [3]
Narthaki Nataraj took the name "Narthaki" during her debut performance as a woman in 1983. [4] She worked as a demonstration assistant to Kittappa Pillai in Tanjore Tamil University. [3] She established a dance school Narthaki Nritya Kalalaya in Madurai to take her guru's vision forward. In 2000, she moved to Chennai and has been a full time professional dancer since then. [4]
She specialises in the Tanjore-based Nayaki Bhava tradition. She established a dance school Velliambalam Nadana Kalai Koodam in Chennai and Madurai, with her friend Shakti Bhaskar, where she trains her students in the traditional repertoire of Thanjavur Quartets. [3] The school has branches in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada. [4]
She along with her friend, Shakti, has been conducting annual workshops at the government department of music in Oslo. They teach Indian and Norwegian students the Tevaram, Tiruppugazh and Tiruvachakam. [4]
Her life and journey has been included as a lesson in the 11th standard Tamil text book by the Tamil Nadu government in 2018. [5] In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri, making her the first transgender woman to be awarded India's fourth-highest civilian award. [2]
Narthaki Nataraj was stopped at many airports as her passport denoted the alphabet "U" for her gender. In 2002, she took part in one of the earliest campaigns for the rights of transgender people. She pursued Union Home Ministry to change the alphabet "U", representing eunuchs for transgender people in India to alphabet "F", representing female. [6]
She also took part in the fight to replace the derogatory Tamil word aravani with thirunangai, meaning "supreme woman" in the official circulars of the Tamil Nadu government. [6] In November 2019, the government has changed the denomination to use the old word of moondram paalinathavar. [7]
Tanjore Balasaraswati, also known as Balasaraswati, was an Indian dancer, and her rendering of Bharatanatyam, a classical dance style originated in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, made this style of dancing well known in different parts of India and many parts of the world.
Mungara Yamini Krishnamurthy is an Indian dancer of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi styles of dancing.
Umayalpuram Kasiviswanatha Sivaraman is an Indian musician and exponent of the Carnatic percussion instrument, the mridangam. He is a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Tamil Nadu are the most progressive among all states of India. Tamil Nadu was the first state in India to introduce a transgender welfare policy, wherein transgender individuals can access free gender affirmation surgery in government hospitals and various other benefits and rights. The state was also the first to ban forced sex-selective surgeries on intersex infants, and also the first state to include an amendment in its state police guidelines that expects officers to abstain from harassing the LGBTQIA+ community and its members. The state also became the first to ban conversion therapy as well as the first to introduce LGBTQIA+ issues in school curricula.
Alarmel Valli is a leading Indian classical dancer and choreographer and the foremost exponent of the Pandanallur style in the Indian classical dance form, Bharatanatyam. She is widely acclaimed for her ability to turn traditional grammar into deeply internalized, personal dance poetry.
Leela Samson is a Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, instructor, writer and actress from India. As a soloist, she is known for her technical virtuosity and has taught Bharatanatyam at Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra in Delhi for many years.
K. Venkatalakshamma was a renowned Bharatanatyam dancer. A doyenne of the Mysore Style of Bharatanatyam, she was the last representative of the Mysore court tradition. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 1992.
Kumari Kamala is an Indian dancer and actress. Initially featured as a child dancer, Kamala appeared in almost 100 Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films throughout her career. In the 1970s, she became a teacher of the Vazhuvoor style of dance in which she specialises.
Madhavi Mudgal is an Indian classical dancer known for her Odissi dance style. She has won several awards, including the Sanskriti Award, 1984, President of India's award of Padma Shri, 1990, the Orissa State Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1996, Grande Medaille de la Ville by Govt. of France, 1997, Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 2000, Delhi State Parishad Samman, 2002 and the title of Nritya Choodamani in 2004.
Saroja Vaidyanathan was an Indian choreographer, guru, and notable proponent of Bharatanatyam. She was conferred the Padma Shri in 2002 and the Padma Bhushan in 2013 by the Government of India.
Shanta Rao was a notable dancer from India. She studied and performed Kathakali, Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi.
Sucheta Bhide Chapekar is an Indian classical dancer and choreographer. She is an exponent of Bharatnatyam. She is the founder of "Kalavardhini", a trust supporting the teaching and propagation activities in classical dance, where she also teaches Bharatnatyam. She has been a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2007).
Madras Kadiravelu Saroja, known as Puliyur Saroja, was an Indian classical dancer, known for her expertise, as an exponent and as a teacher, in the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam. The Government of India honored her, in 2011, with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her services to the field of art and culture.
Malavika Sarukkai is an Indian classical dancer and choreographer specializing in Bharatanatyam. A 2002 winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, she was honoured by the Government of India in 2003 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
Roshan Kumari Fakir Mohammad is an Indian classical dancer, actor and choreographer, considered by many as one of the foremost exponents of the Indian classical dance form of Kathak. She follows the Jaipur Gharana and is the founder of Nritya Kala Kendra, Mumbai, an academy promoting Kathak. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975, she received the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1984.
Komala Varadan is an Indian classical dancer of Bharatnatyam, writer and the founder of Kalaikoodam, a Delhi-based institute for promoting arts, literature and culture. She is known to be proficient in various art forms such as choreography, photography and painting.
Meenakshi Chitharanjan, an Indian classical dancer, teacher and choreographer, is known as an exponent of the Pandanallur style of the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam. She is the founder of Kaladiksha, an institution promoting Bharatanatyam and striving to preserve the Pandanallur tradition. A disciple of the father-son duo of Chokkalingam Pillai and Subbaraya Pillai, she is a recipient of several honours including Kalaimamani Award of the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Natya Kala Sarathi of Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for her contributions to classical dance.
Ananda Shankar Jayant is an Indian classical dancer, choreographer, scholar and bureaucrat, known for her proficiency in the classical dance forms of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. She is the first woman officer in the Indian Railway Traffic Service on South Central Railway and her 2009 TED talk is ranked among the top twelve Incredible TED talks on cancer. She is a recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Kalaimamani Award of the Government of Tamil Nadu and Kala Ratna Award of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for her contributions to arts.
Madurai Narayanan Krishnan (1928–2005) was an Indian musician, known for his proficiency in carnatic music. He was known to have been proficient in all the three facets of music viz. vocals, lyrics and music and was considered by many as a Vaggeyakara. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in 1992 and followed it up with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, in 2003. He was also a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, UNESCO Award and the Kalaimamani Award.
S. Narmada popularly known as Guru Narmada was a Bharatanatyam exponent and teacher from Karnataka, India. She received several awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy Award, Rajyotsava Prashasti and Shantala Natya Sri Award.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)