Saroja Vaidyanathan | |
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 Vaidyanathan in 2013 | |
| Born | (1937-09-19)19 September 1937 Bellary,Ceded Districts, Madras Province, British India |
| Died | 21 September 2023(2023-09-21) (aged 86) New Delhi, India |
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| Dances | Bharatanatyam |
Saroja Vaidyanathan (19 September 1937 – 21 September 2023) was an Indian choreographer,guru, and notable proponent ofBharatanatyam.[1] She was conferred thePadma Shri in 2002 and thePadma Bhushan in 2013 by theGovernment of India.[2]
Saroja Vaidyanathan (née Dharmarajan) was born inBellary,Karnataka, on 19 September 1937. Vaidyanathan's parents were both authors; her mother Kanakam Dharmarajan was a writer ofdetective fiction inTamil.[3]
She received her initial training in Bharatanatyam at the Saraswati Gana Nilayam inChennai and later studied under guru Kattumannar Muthukumaran Pillai ofThanjavur. She also studiedCarnatic music under Professor P. Sambamoorthy atMadras University and had aD.Litt in dance from theIndira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya,Khairagarh.[4]
Vaidyanathan gave up dancing after her marriage, following conservative and adverse reactions to her performing in public venues and took instead to teaching children dance at home. Following her husband's transfer toDelhi in 1972, she established the Ganesa Natyalaya there in 1974. She was monetarily supported by well wishers and sponsors and the building for the Natyalaya was built at the Qutab Institutional Area in 1988. Besides the dance itself, students at the Ganesa Natyalaya are also taught Tamil,Hindi, and Carnatic vocal music to give them a holistic understanding of Bharatanatyam.[5]
Vaidyanathan was a prolific choreographer and had to her credit ten full-lengthballets and nearly two thousand individual Bharatanatyam pieces.[5] She undertook a cultural tour ofSouth East Asia in 2002, accompanyingPrime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to theASEAN Summit in 2002.[1] She had also published her renditions ofSubramania Bharati's songs and poems and set some of her works to dance.[1][6]
Saroja Vidyanathan wrote a number of books on Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music includingThe Classical Dances of India,Bharatanatyam – An In-Depth Study,Carnataka Sangeetham, andThe Science of Bharatanatyam.[1][3]
Saroja was married to Vaidyanathan, anIAS officer of theBihar cadre.[5] The couple had a son, Kamesh and their daughter-in-lawRama Vaidyanathan is a well-known Bharatanatyam artist of international fame. Saroja's grand-daughter, Dakshina Vaidyanathan Baghel, is also a sought-after Indian classical dancer.[7]
Vaidyanathan died from cancer on 21 September 2023, two days after her 86th birthday.[8]
Saroja was conferred the Padma Shri in 2002 and the Padma Bhushan in 2013.[2] She is also the recipient of the Sahitya Kala Parishad Samman of theGovernment of Delhi, the Kalaimamani title bestowed by the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram and theSangeet Natak Akademi Award.[4] She was conferred the title of 'Bharata Kalai Sudar' in 2006.[9]
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