Renowned Bharatnatyam dancer, Narthaki Nataraj, has become the first person from the transgender community to be honoured with one of the top civilian awards in India. Haling from Tamil Nadu, the 54-year old classical dancer was among those bestowed with the Padma Shri, the third highest civilian award.
Nataraj is an exponent of the Tanjore Quartet of Bharatnatyam, the Nayaki Bhava tradition, and trained under Tanjore Shri K. P. Kittappa Pillai. Things weren’t at all easy for her. She was subjected to ridicule and rejection socially. On top of that, she had to battle poverty. With the financial support of her friend Shakti, she survived. Her passion and love for dance overpowered all the stigma and she went to Pillai who went on to become her mentor. Having performed all over the world, she is considered an icon and a symbol of inspiration and empowerment for the transgender community. In 2018, the Tamil Nadu School Education Department introduced a lesson about Nataraj in the Tamil textbook for Plus One students.
Nataraj started her own school Narthaki Nritya Kalalaya to take her guru’s aesthetic vision forward. The school was established in Madurai. She launched the Valliambalam School of Dance in Chennai in 2000. Her school has branches in the US, UK, and Canada. She has also been conducting annual workshops at the government department of music in Oslo.
This is truly a remarkable achievement and shows how we as a nation are coming out of a narrow outlook and recognising contributions from all spheres of society. This is the India we would like to live in, hand over to our future generations.
