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Nataraja Ramakrishna నటరాజ రామకృష్ణ | |
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| Born | (1923-03-21)21 March 1923 |
| Died | 7 June 2011(2011-06-07) (aged 88) |
| Known for | Classical dancer, Guru, Writer, Classical Dance Composer, Reviver ofAndhra Natyam,Perini Shivatandavam- |
| Parent(s) | Damayanti Devi, Rammohan Rao |
| Awards | Padma Shri 1992 |
Nataraja Ramakrishna (21 March 1923 – 7 June 2011) was an Indian dance guru. He was the chairman of Andhra Pradesh Sangeeta Nataka Academy.[1] He was also a scholar and musicologist who promoted classical dance inAndhra Pradesh and worldwide.
Ramakrishna was born inBali,Indonesia to an ethnicIndian migrant family ofTelugu descent from the Indian state ofAndhra Pradesh whose parents are named, Damayanti Devi who hailed fromNalgonda, and Ramamohan Rao, fromEast Godavari.[2] His mother was aVeena exponent. Ramakrishna lost his mother at the age of three. The family later returned to India.[3]
From his childhood, Ramakrishna was interested in classical dance forms. He left his family and property for the love of art since his father did not approve of it. He spent his boyhood inRamakrishna Math atMadras and Mahatma Gandhi's ashram. His elder brother Shyama Sundar was his mentor. During his childhood he came in touch with gurus like Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai, Vedantam Laxminarayana Sastry, Naidupeta Rajamma, Pendyala Satyabhama and Jampa Muthyam under whom he learnt various forms of art. His first dance teacher was Sukhdev Kartak inNagpur.[2]
His dance performance before the royal assembly consisting of scholars, poets, art critics and the elite ofNagpur city was his turning point. At the age of 18, he was given the title of ‘Nataraja' in Nagpur, by the then ruler ofMaratha. He was the architect of the revival of theAndhra Natyam dance form, a devotional temple dance tradition performed in Andhra Pradesh for over 2000 years until virtually extinct.[4][1] He is also known for revivingPerini Shivatandavam, 700-year-old dance form and brought international fame to it along withKuchipudi, another traditional dance form.
On request of the thenChief Minister ofAndhra Pradesh,Neelam Sanjiva Reddy he established Nritya Niketan - a dance school atHyderabad. Other awards bestowed upon him were thePadma Shri in 1992,[5] "Kala Prapoorna" – a doctorate from theAndhra University and a ‘Bharata Kala Prapoorna,'- by Andhra Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi and NTR State Award by Andhra Pradesh State government. He was awarded withRaja-Lakshmi Award in 1991. Over his long career he trained many dancers and wrote and choreographed highly acclaimed dance dramas. He helped to propagate Chindu Yakshaganam (Telugu: చిందు-యక్షగానం), an ancient folk form ofTelangana and revived other folk arts like Tappetagullu (Telugu: తప్పెటగుళ్లు) ofSrikakulam andVizianagaram districts, Veera Natyam and Garagalu of East and West Godavari districts, Devadasi dance and dance tradition of temples performingAdhyatma Ramayana.
He also helped and encouraged dance artistes like Dommaras, Guravayyalu, Urumulu and Veedi Bhagavatulu. He also practiced Satvikabhinaya- a dance art. He composed life of LordVenkateswara as a "Nrutya nataka" (ballet).[6] As a research scholar sponsored by the Government of India, he worked in the thenUSSR (nowRussia) andFrance to propagate Indian dance art, making a comparative study of Indian and western Classical and folk dances.[7] He was bestowed with theSangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (Academi Ratna) on 21 January 2011. He wrote more than 40 books, many of them highly awarded, and his contribution to the art of dance is widely recognized. With his innumerable performances, lecture demonstrations and through his extensive travels he created an awareness not only ofKuchipudi dance, but also revived the lost and forgotten dance forms of Andhra Pradesh. He was awarded Bharata kala prapoorna award.
As per his wish, Nataraja Ramakrishna was laid to rest in a plot allotted by Government near theTaramati Baradari inHyderabad, built by seventh Sultan of Golconda, Abdullah Qutb Shah who as an ode to his favorite courtesan, Taramati.
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