Yamini Krishnamurthy is an eminent classical dancer
of India. She has attained her mastery over the dances of Bharatnatyam
and Kuchipudi. Yamini was born in 1940 at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu. She
took birth in a Telugu family, on a full moon night. On seeing the
child, her grandfather instantly named her Yamini Poornatilaka which
suggests "a beautiful mark on the brow of light." Since
childhood, Yamini was fond of dancing and her desire was to become a
dancer.
When she was merely five years old, she went to Chennai in order to
learn dance at Kalashetra School of Dance under the direction of Rukmini
Devi Arundale. Following the basics of dance at Kalashetra, Yamini went
for advanced studies of dance. She took training from the marvels of
dance field like Kanchipuram Ellapa Pillai, Thanjavur Kittapa Pillai,
Dhandayudhpani Pillai and Mylapore Gouri Amma. Vedantam Lakshmi Narayana
Shastri, Chinta Krishnamurthi and Pasumarthy Venugopal Krishna Sharma
were the trainers of Yamini for Kuchipudi.
The dancing art of Odissi was to Yamini by Pankaj Charan Das and
Kelucharan Mohapatra. In 1957, Yamini gave her debut stage performance
at Chennai. This performance made her an overnight star as she
captivated the people with her charismatic performance. She acknowledged
herself on the International panorama by the year 1960. Yamini appeared
as one of the leading classical dancers of India.
Through her alluring dance performances, Yamini popularized Kuchipudi
all over the world. She received national and international appreciation
for her dance. Yamini received the credit of being Asthana Nartaki
(Resident Dancer) of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (context
regarding India). Her dance talent brought many awards to her fame. In
1968, Yamini got the title of 'Padma Shree' by the Government of India.
She received `Sangeet Natak Academy Award' in 1977 and 'Padma Bhushan'
in the year 2001.
Above and beyond her stage performances, Yamini produced a serial based
on dance for Doordarshan. She also wrote a book, `A Passion for Dance'
that was appreciated by the readers. In 1990, Yamini established 'Yamini
School of Dance' at Hauz Khas, New Delhi. She teaches dance skills to
the young dancers at her institute. After continuing more than 40 years
of dance journey, Yamini is still active with her dancing skills.
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Dances of India |
