Kalamandalam Vimala Menon | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1943-01-07)7 January 1943 (age 82) Irinjalakuda,Thrissur, Kerala, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | Kerala Kalamandalam,Cheruthuruthy(Diploma InMohiniyattam &Bharathanatyam) |
| Occupation(s) | Director and Principal of Kerala Natya Academy, Classical Dance Instructor & Author |
| Years active | 1964 – present |
| Awards | Guinness Book of Records (2006) Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2006) Kerala Kalamandalam Award (2005) Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award (1991) Viswabharathy Award (1980) All Kerala Social Service Association Award (1964) |
| Website | kalamanadalamvimalamenon |
Vimala Menon, known popularly asKalamandalam Vimala Menon is an Indian dance teacher andMohiniyattam exponent from Kerala. She is the founder and Director ofKerala Natya Academy inThiruvananthapuram.
Vimala was born into an affluent family in a village inIrinjalakuda,Thrissur district.[citation needed] She is the second of seven children born to S. K. Krishnan Nair, a civil engineer, and Vishalakshy Amma.[1] Vimala learned her initial dance lessons from Thripunithura Vijaya Bhanu. She also had her training inCarnatic music under M. R. Madhusudhana Menon. After completing her school education, she joinedKerala Kalamandalam for a four-year diploma course in dance in 1960.[2] At Kalamandalam, she had training inMohiniyattam under the tutelage of Pazhayannoor Chinnammu Amma andKalamandalam Satyabhama. She also studiedBharata Natyam under Thanjavoor Bhaskara Rao.[citation needed]
While working as a dance teacher in the Jawahar School atNeyveli Lignite Corporation, she married Viswanatha Menon. After the marriage in 1966, she accompanied her husband to live inBhutan where he was an officer with Bhutan government. She has a son, Vinod and a daughterVinduja Menon who acted in severalMalayalam films, includingPavithram andNjan Gandharvan.[2]
During her stay in Bhutan, Vimala taught dance in the Bhutan Government School and performed South Indian Classical dance in many places.[2]
During her long career, Vimala Menon won several awards and honours, including theKerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award in 1991 and theKendra Sangeeta Nataka Akademi Award in 2006.[3] She received the All Kerala Social Service Association Award forBharata Natyam in 1972. She won the Senior Fellowship Award for her research work in "Ramanattom in Mohiniyattom" by the Government of India's Cultural Department in 2004.[2] Vimala also received the Kerala Kalamandalam Award for Dance fromKerala Kalamandalam for her contribution to South Indian Classical Dances.[4] In 2014, she received theKerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship.[5]