feel very honored to
felicitate one of the
Greatest Indian Dancing Personaly settled in USA
Padmabhushan, Kalaimamani
KAMALA
LAKSHMINARAYAN
in the 4th St. Louis International Indian Dance Festival, by honoring with a
Life Time
Achievement
Award
Here is her brief bio. Please loot at the few video samples, which demonstrate the great dancing ability of Guru Kamala.
Kamala Lakshmi Narayanan is recognized the world over as the foremost proponent of Bharatanatyam, a southern Indian classical dance which combines artistic expression with rhythmic footwork. Known simply as "Kamala" in India, her name has become synonymous with the art. She is a preeminent artist of the Vazhuvoor tradition of the dance, named for her guru, Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai.
Born on June 16, 1934, in Mayuram, India, Narayanan began dancing at age five, taking lessons in Kathak, the classical dance of northern India. Young Kamala's uncommon ability brought her to the attention of Bombay's movie producers and she was offered one of her first roles as a young dancer in the Hindi film, Ram Rajya (Reign of Ram), released in 1939.
When her family moved to southern India during the Second World War, she began to study Bharatanatyam. In 1941 she had her arangetram or dance debut under the training of her first guru, Kattumannar Kovil Muthukumara Pillai, and was soon after introduced to Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai, who became her new mentor. Under his training, she became an exquisite artist and established the "Vazhuvoor" tradition of Bharatanatyam as a leading style of the art. Narayanan's guru was quoted in the Indian press as having expressed his admiration for her unrivalled abilities as a dancer and her complete devotion to the art. Narayanan was popularly known as Kumari Kamala and later as Kamala Laxman.
During the course of her long career, Narayanan has performed thousands of times on stage and in scores of film roles. She endeared herself to the public through dance sequences choreographed by her guru to patriotic songs from the Tamil language film Naam Iruvar (The Two of Us), released in 1947, the year of India's independence from British colonial rule. In 1948 she was invited to perform as a featured artist at the prestigious Music Academy in the city of Chennai in southern India, one of the youngest artists to be accorded such a privilege, and continued to give annual performances at this venue until the 1970s.
Between the 1940s and the 1970s, Narayanan represented India at cultural festivals and events all over the world and performed before many world dignitaries, including Queen Elizabeth on the occasion of her coronation in 1953 and former U.S. President Eisenhower during his state visit to India in 1959.
In the late 1970s, Narayanan moved to the United States and established the Sri Bharatha Kamalalaya School of Dance. She has been teaching in the New York and New Jersey area for the past 30 years and, though in her seventies, continues to dance and teach.
Awards
1967 - Kalaimamani
1968 - Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
1970 - Padma Bhushan by President of India
1975 - Branta Professorship from Colgate University
1989 - E. Krishna Iyer Medal from the Sruti Foundation
1993 - Sangeeta Ratnakara at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana
2002 - Platinum Jubilee award from Madras Music Academy
2004 - a Lifetime Achievement Award in
from the Carnatic Music Association of North America
2002- the Platinum Jubilee Award from Chennai's Music Academy
2007 - Natya Padmam from Chennai's Brahma Gana Sabha
2010 - National Heritage Fellowship
2011 - St. Louis Indian Dance Festival - LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Filmography
1938 Valibar Sangam
1939 Ramanama Mahimai
1943 Kismet
1943 Ram Rajya
1944 Jagathalaprathapan
1945 Sri Valli
1945 Meera
1945 En magan
1947 Ekambavananan
1947 Katagam
1947 Mahatma Udhangar
1947 Nam Iruvar
1958 Bhookailas
1959 Sivagangai Seemai
1962 Konjum Salangai
1962 Shaadi
1971 Jwala
1973 Chenda
Video - 2
Video - 3