K Kalyanasundaram Pillai

Guru Thiruvidaimarudur Kuppiah Kalyanasundaram comes from a family of nattuvanars, the traditional dance masters of Thanjavur, and has given his life to Bharatanatyam. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023 in the field of art, from Tamil Nadu ^[1].

A family of dance masters

Kalyanasundaram was born on 1 March 1932 in Thiruvidaimarudur, in Thanjavur district ^[2]. He learned Bharatanatyam from his father, Thanjavur Kuppiah Pillai, from his brother T. K. Mahalingam Pillai, his brother-in-law A. T. Govindraj Pillai and his sister Karunambal, and also studied mridangam and vocal music ^[2]. His ancestors had been honoured at the royal courts of Baroda, Mysore, Ramanathapuram and Thanjavur ^[2].

Seventy years of teaching

He presented the arangetram, or debut, of his first student in Mumbai in 1960, and has since trained a great many dancers, some of them well known in India and abroad ^[2]. His productions include the 18th-century Thirukutrala Kuravanji, Andal’s Thiruppavai, Charanapaduka on Tulsidas’s Ramayana with music by Pandit Jasraj, and a centenary tribute to M. S. Subbulakshmi danced by a hundred performers ^[2]. He has also set to dance the works of poets from Thiruvalluvar and Kambar to Tagore, Subramania Bharati and Sant Tukaram ^[2].

Across borders

In 1986 he worked with Pandit Birju Maharaj, Kelucharan Mohapatra and Vempati Chinna Satyam on a joint production, National Integration through Dance ^[2]. He took dance troupes to Nepal in 1982 and to China’s first international arts festival in 1989, and has presented his work in Australia, the Americas, Europe and across Asia ^[2].