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[[Image:Chitra Visweswaran 02A.jpg|thumb|Chitra Visweswaran performing in [[Seattle]].]]
[[Image:chitravisveswaran1.jpg|thumb|Visweswaran performing in [[Kerala]], India.]]

'''Chitra Visweswaran''' is an Indian [[Bharata Natyam]] dancer who runs a dance school, the Chidambaram Academy of Performing Arts, in [[Chennai]].

She was awarded the [[Padma Shri]], one of the top civilian honours given by the [[Government of India]], in 1992.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6U68ulwpb?url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 November 2014 |df=dmy }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/changing-narrative-of-dance-group-acts-take-centre-stage/articleshow/56043991.cms | title=Changing narrative of dance: Group acts take centre stage | publisher=[[The Times of India]] | work=Arjun Naraynan | date=18 December 2016 | access-date=1 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Eve's Weekly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ePlWAAAAYAAJ|access-date=1 October 2017|date=October 1975|page=253}}</ref>

== Early life and training ==
Visweswaran began dancing at the age of three with her mother, Rukmini Padmanabhan, who was trained in contemporary [[Dance in India|Indian dance]] and Bharata Natyam. Her father was an engineer with [[Indian Railways]], and when his job took the family to London, Chitra began to study [[classical ballet]]. Later, in [[Kolkata]], she trained in the [[Manipuri dance|Manipuri]] and [[Kathak]] dance forms. At the age of ten, she went under the tutelage of T.A. Rajalakshmi, one of the best [[devadasi]]s from [[Thiruvidaimarudur]], who had settled in Kolkata. Her [[arangetram]]—her debut onstage performance—took place within ten months, an unusually short period, and she continued to train with Rajalakshmi for almost a decade.

At thirteen, Visweswaran choreographed the life of [[Tyagaraja|Saint Tyagaraja]] in the form of a [[varnam]], the most demanding type of piece in the Bharata Natyam repertoire. She wanted to move to Chennai (then called Madras) after finishing school to pursue a career in dance, but her parents insisted that she complete a college degree. She earned a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in English from the [[University of Calcutta]] while simultaneously studying [[dance theory]] and the [[history of dance]] on her own time.

In 1970, she received a scholarship for advanced study in Bharata Natyam from the [[Ministry of Human Resource Development|Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development]] at a time when only two such scholarships per year were awarded nationwide, compared with 25 today. She spent her four-year scholarship period studying in Chennai under Vazhuvoor Ramaiyya Pillai. Within three months, he chose Visweswaran over his other students to star in a dance drama he had choreographed. The musicologist [[Professor P Sambamurthy|P. Sambamurthy]], the art historian [[Kapila Vatsyayan]], and the dance critic [[Sunil Kothari]] all noted her work.

== Teaching work ==
Visweswaran started teaching dance in Kolkata at the age of sixteen, and in 1975, she established the Chidambaram Academy of Performing Arts (CAPA) in Chennai. Today, CAPA has satellite institutions around the world led by former students. Admission is highly selective, and graduates have received national and international scholarships and fellowships.

Visweswaran also raises money for RASA, an organisation that uses dance and [[music therapy]] for children with [[Learning disability|learning disabilities]].

== Dance productions ==
In 1980, Visweswaran choreographed her first major dance drama, ''Devi Ashta Rasa Malika'', which helped popularise the concept of group formations in Bharata Natyam. Several thematic solo productions followed, including:
* ''Krishnanjali'', which introduced the [[Flashback (narrative)|flashback]] technique to Bharata Natyam
* ''Purandara Krishnamritham'', in which rare [[kriti]]s of the [[Kannada people|Kannada]] composer [[Purandara Dasa]] were researched and strung together thematically
* ''Saptha Sapthi'', which explored seven aspects of [[7 (number)|the number seven]]
* ''Sthree Sakthi'', a saga of Indian women from [[Sita]] to [[Rani of Jhansi|Jhansi Ki Rani]]
One of her group productions explored the parallels between two women's approaches to poetry and [[bhakti]]: the South Indian saint [[Andal]] and the [[Mewar]]i princess [[Meera]]. In another work, a production of the ''[[Ramayana]]'', Visweswaran used a single [[Sanskrit]] kriti, translated into [[Tamil language|Tamil]], to anchor the dance musically. She also produced ''Devaki Pulambal'' from the viewpoint of [[Devaki]], the mother of [[Krishna]], instead of the viewpoint of the story's traditional narrator, [[Yasodharā]].

Visweswaran eventually dropped costumes from her productions, arguing that playing a character solely through mime, gesture, and stance was more challenging than playing a character in the expected costume.

In 1989, India's [[National Academy of Sciences, India|National Academy of Sciences]] commissioned her to create a production about the [[Ganges]] river, not highlighting its religious connotations, but presenting it as representative of the ethos of India.

== Performances ==
Visweswaran has performed in all of India's major dance festivals and has made several tours abroad, dancing in Australia, [[Austria]], [[Bahrain]], [[Belgium]], [[Bulgaria]], Canada, [[Fiji]], France, Germany, Italy, [[Kuwait]], [[Luxembourg]], [[Malaysia]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Oman]], [[Portugal]], [[Qatar]], Singapore, [[Sri Lanka]], [[Sweden]], [[Switzerland]], the [[United Arab Emirates]], the United Kingdom, and the United States.

She is regularly featured on the National Program of Dance and on local programs of [[Doordarshan]] and other Indian channels. Her dances have also been broadcast by ''[[The Mike Walsh Show]]'' in Australia, the [[Singapore Broadcasting Corporation]], [[BBC Television]], and networks in France, Malaysia, Portugal, Switzerland, and the United States. On the 50th anniversary of [[Independence Day (India)|India's independence]], the BBC invited her to present a specially choreographed program at [[Symphony Hall, Birmingham|Symphony Hall]] in Birmingham that was telecast internationally on 15 August 1997.

== Awards and distinctions ==
In 1980, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, an Indian cultural institution, gave Visweswaran its Nritya Choodamani award.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.krishnaganasabha.org/awards/1980-1990/nritya-choodamani.html|title=Nritya Choodamani|website=www.krishnaganasabha.org|access-date=24 May 2016}}</ref> In 1996 and 1997, she convened the Sabha's Natya Kala conference, the only dance seminar of its kind in India. She is a trustee of the [[India Foundation for the Arts]] and a member of the Indian government committee that selects candidates for scholarships and fellowships in Bharata Natyam. She is the [[University of Madras]]'s Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Fine Arts, and is also a member of the general council and executive board of the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]], the top performing arts body in India.

The government of Tamil Nadu conferred the title "Kalaimamani" on her in 1982. She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987 and the [[Padma Shri]] from the [[President of India]] in 1992. In addition, in India's 50th year of independence, she was awarded the titles of Mahila Shiromani (distinguished woman of Indian origin) and Sthree Ratna (gem amongst women). The [[Japan Foundation]] invited her to be its special guest in 2000. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Music Academy's Natya Kala Acharya Award for Dance.

Other honours include:
* Nritya Vilas award, Sur Singar Samsad, [[Mumbai]], 1988
* Manav Sewa Puraskar, Institute of Economic Studies, New Delhi, 1992
* Natanamani, Kanchi Paramacharya, 1999

== Personal life ==
Visweswaran's husband, Sri [[R. Visweswaran]], a nephew of the [[Carnatic music]]ian G.N. Balasubramaniam, was a vocalist, instrumentalist, and composer with extensive experience in film music. He played the [[santoor]], [[veena]], and [[flamenco guitar]], and had composed and directed music for his wife's productions.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.tamilnadutourism.org/FineArts/DanceLegends/Chitra.aspx?catid=C4 Legends of dance]
*[http://www.narthaki.com/info/profiles/profile7.html Chitra Visweswar bio]
*[http://chitravisweswaran.in/ Chitra Visweswar website]
*[http://www.kutcheribuzz.com/features/interviews/chitra.asp Chitra Visweswaran Interview]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060110105744/http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/05/stories/2006010516280400.htm Chitra Visweswaran award]
*[http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/music/trend-setter/article5413551.ece From THE HINDU papers]
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visweswaran, Chitra}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]
[[Category:Performers of Indian classical dance]]
[[Category:Artists from Chennai]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Bharatanatyam exponents]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dancers]]
[[Category:Women artists from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Indian female classical dancers]]
[[Category:Dancers from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]

Chitra Visweswaran - Revision history

->XLinkBot at 02:54, 15 June 2021