https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Kalanidhi_NarayananKalanidhi Narayanan - Revision history2026-07-31T15:28:09ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Kalanidhi_Narayanan&diff=335931&oldid=prevUpdateBot at 16:40, 24 April 20222022-04-24T16:40:37Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Indian dancer (1928-2016)}}<br />
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{{Infobox dancer<br />
| name = Kalanidhi Narayanan<br />
| image = Kalanidhi Narayanan.jpg<br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_name = Kalanidhi Ganapathi<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1928|12|07}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Tamil Nadu]], British India<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2016|2|21|1928|12|7}}<br />
| death_place = Chennai, India<br />
| occupation = [[Indian classical dance]]r, dance teacher<br />
| years_active = 1940-1944; 1973-2016<br />
| current_group = Madras Music Academy <ref>{{cite news |title=WEEKENDER GUIDE|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0714FE3D580C718EDDA00894D1484D81 |author=Andrew L. Yarrow |work=New York Times |date=22 September 1989 }}</ref>|<br />
| dances = [[Bharatnatyam]]<br />
| website = <!-- {{URL|website}} --><br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''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 1940s. After a brief career in the 1940s, she returned to dance in 1973 and became a notable teacher of ''[[abhinaya]]''.<ref name=lo>{{cite web |title=Padmabhushan Kalanidhi Narayanan Talks To Lokvani|url=http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=1142 |date=2 February 2003|work=Lokvani}}</ref><ref name=hin03/><ref>{{cite news |title=Exploration of expressions|url=http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/01/25/stories/2008012551100300.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080129075313/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/01/25/stories/2008012551100300.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 January 2008 |newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=25 January 2008}}</ref><br />
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She was awarded the [[Padma Bhushan]] Award, India's third highest civilian honour in 1985,<ref>{{cite web|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954-2009) |publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]] |url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095705/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2013 }}</ref> the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] for Bharatnatyam in 1990, given by [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]], India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist.htm |title=SNA: List of Akademi Awardees |publisher=[[Sangeet Natak Akademi]] Official website |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217185616/http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist.htm |archive-date=17 February 2012 }}</ref> and [[Kalidas Samman]] (1998). She was also conferred [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Ratna]] for Dance in 2011.<br />
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==Early life and training==<br />
Born Kalanidhi Ganapathi <ref name=Shea197/> in the [[Brahmin]] household of Sumitra and Ganapati, her mother was keen on getting her dance education, and this was supported by her father. Thus starting at the age of seven she trained intensively under various gurus, this included Kamakshi Ammal, daughter of Veena Dhanam, for Padams and Javalis and Manakkal Sivarajan for vocal lessons. Noted guru Kannappa Pillai, from [[Kanchipuram]] was her main teacher of ''nritta'' (dance), he was also teacher to [[Balasaraswati]], while Chinnayya Naidu and Mylapore Gauri Ammal taught her ''[[Abhinaya]]'' (Art of expression). Later she was to add a new dimension to ''abhinaya'' herself.<ref name=lo/><br />
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She made her stage-debut ([[Arangetram (dance)|Arangetram]]) at the age of 12 at the [[University of Madras#Senate House|Senate House]] in Chennai, for the [[Madras Music Academy]].<ref name=Shea197>[[#Sh|O'Shea, p. 175]]</ref><ref name=nar/> While still in her teens, she gave two notable recitals, one with Dhanamanikkam and another with Nattuvanar K. Ganesan, son of the Kandappa Pillai.<ref name=hin03/><br />
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She died in February 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Bharatanatyam-exponent-Kalanidhi-Narayanan-dies-aged-87/articleshow/51088402.cms|title = Bharatanatyam exponent Kalanidhi Narayanan dies aged 87 &#124; Chennai News - Times of India}}</ref><br />
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==Career==<br />
She had a brief dance career in the 1940s, before she stepped out at the age of sixteen when her mother died and she was married into a conservative family. She returned to dance when in 1973, noted art-patron, Y. G. Doraiswamy, who had seen her performances as a teen, asked to instruct dancer [[Alarmel Valli]] in ''abhinaya'', to which she agreed, encouraged by her sons who had by now grown up. This started the second phase of her career after a gap of 30 years at the age of 46. She also started to re-educate herself in dance, luckily her books from her younger days had survived, she started attending dance performances and ''[[Arangetram (dance)|Arangetram]]'' in the city, also enrolled in a course on dance theory on Bharatanatyam by Dr. Padma Subramaniam<br />
. Gradually more students started coming to her and in the coming decades she became "the most sought after teacher for ''abhinaya''".<ref name=lo/><ref name=hin03>{{cite news |title=Guru par excellence |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2003/12/05/stories/2003120501650400.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040620201124/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2003/12/05/stories/2003120501650400.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=20 June 2004 |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=5 December 2003 }}</ref><br />
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On 7 December 2003, various dance teachers and her disciples, celebrated her 75th birthday at Luz Community Hall in Chennai, it was marked by a two-day seminar on abhinaya, where prominent gurus of Bharatanatyam participated. On the occasion, a set of 4 CDs on ''Padams'' was also released.<ref name=hin03/><ref name=nar>{{cite web |title=Ageless: the face of abhinaya |url=http://www.narthaki.com/info/reviews/rev161.html |date=14 December 2003 |work=narthaki }}</ref><br />
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==Disciples==<br />
Amongst her noted disciples are, Ramya Harishankar (USA), A.Lakshmanaswamy (India), Bragha Bessell (India), [[Hema Rajagopalan]] (India), Subashree Narayanan (USA), Minal Prabhu (India), Priya Govind (India),<ref name=lo/> [[Sharmila Biswas]],<ref name="sna">{{cite web |title=Katha Kavya Abhinaya |url=http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/RabindraPranati2011/sharmila-biswas.html |year=2011 |publisher=Sangeet Natak Akademi |access-date=28 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927144520/http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/RabindraPranati2011/sharmila-biswas.html |archive-date=27 September 2013 }}</ref> [[Meenakshi Chitharanjan]] (''abhinaya''), [[:ru:Милана Северская (Мандира)|Milana Severskaya]] (Russia)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.milana-art.ru/html/rus/biogr.html|title=Домашняя страница Миланы Северской|website=www.milana-art.ru|access-date=2018-06-30}}</ref> to name a few.<ref name="Life’s dancing lessons">{{cite news | url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/dance/lifes-dancing-lessons/article5684655.ece | title=Life's dancing lessons | newspaper=The Hindu | date=13 February 2014 | access-date=29 January 2016}}</ref> She has taught numerous disciples over the years, many of whom have personalised her philosophies.<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
* ''Kalanidhi Narayanan and Padam revival in the modern Bharata Natyam dance practice'', by Priya Srinivasan. University of California, Los Angeles, 1997.<br />
* ''Kalanidhi Narayanan's Triveni: selected Telugu songs of Annamayya Kshetrayya Sarangapani''. Abhinaya Sudha Trust, 2008.<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
* {{cite book |title=At Home in the World: Bharata Natyam on the global stage|chapter=Revival Era Dancers at Music Academy|author=Janet O'Shea |publisher=Wesleyan University Press|year= 2007|isbn=978-0-8195-6837-3 |page=1975 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4CfA4uDwCKwC&q=Kalanidhi+narayanan&pg=PA175 |ref=Sh }}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* [http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=1142 An interview with Kalanidhi Narayanan]<br />
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{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1980–89}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Narayanan, Kalanidhi}}<br />
[[Category:Performers of Indian classical dance]]<br />
[[Category:Bharatanatyam exponents]]<br />
[[Category:1928 births]]<br />
[[Category:2016 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Artists from Chennai]]<br />
[[Category:Indian dance teachers]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]<br />
[[Category:Teachers of Indian classical dance]]<br />
[[Category:Indian female classical dancers]]<br />
[[Category:Women educators from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian dancers]]<br />
[[Category:Dancers from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]<br />
[[Category:Educators from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:Women artists from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]</div>UpdateBot