Some Veteran Dancers of Bharatnatyam

There are some veteran dancers of Bharatnatyam who worshipped dance as religion. Their hard effort helped bharatnatyam to be an art of the people.

Bala Saraswati:

Tanjore Balasaraswati also known as Balasaraswati was a celebrated traditional Indian dancer. 

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She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1957 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1977, the third and the second highest civilian honours given by the Government of India. In 1981 she was awarded the Sangeetha Kalasikhamani award of The Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai.

After witnessing her performance Uday Shankar became an ardent promoter of her performance. Her performance recreated the interest of people in traditional dance. Her performance also gained reputation internationally.  In a review in 1977, the New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff described her as one of the "supreme performing artists in the world". India Today, one of the leading news magazine of India, based on a survey, classified her as one of the 100 prominent Indians who have shaped the destiny of India. She was the only non-western dancer included in a compilation of the Dance Heritage Coalition, "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures: The First 100" (2000).

Rukimini Devi Arundale:

Rukmini Devi Arundale  was an dancer and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam.

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She also is the first ever woman in Indian History to be nominated as the Rajya Sabha member. She is considered the most important revivalist in the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam from its original 'sadhir' style, prevalent amongst the temple dancers, Devadasis, she also worked for the re-establishment of traditional Indian arts and crafts.

Though she belonged to the Indian upper-caste she espoused the cause of Bharata Natyam, which was considered a low and vulgar art in the early 1920s. Recognising the beauty and the spiritual value of this art form, she not only learned the dance, but also presented it on stage despite strong public protests.

Minakshisundaram Pillai:

Minakshisundaram Pillai is a dance guru who lived in the village of Pandanallur, in the Thanjavur district in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Her  ancestors were nattuvanars and she  was a descendant from the Thanjavur Quartet  which comprised four brothers: Chinnaiah, Ponniah, Sivanandam and Vadivel.The works of these four brothers, who were court composers in the early 19th century in Thanjavur, form the main classical masterpieces of Bharata Natyam.

Baroda Guru Kubernath Tanjorkar was a disciple of Pillai who later established Tanjor Dance Music & Art Research Centre in Baroda, Gujarat. Thiruvallaputhur Swaminatha Pillai, also known as T.K.Swaminatha Pillai, was one of the leading disciples of Pillai. He learned Bharathanatiyam under the Gurukula of Pillai for more than ten years.

Pillai was said to have been trained by his uncle, Kumarasamy Nattuvanar. He trained several famous Bharata Natyam dancers, including Devadasis.

After Pillai, his son-in-law Chokkalingam Pillai (1893–1968) became the doyen Guru of the Pandanallur style. His leading dancer-student was Mambalam Geetha. He trained other leading dancers such as G. Kausalya, Sucharita, and Indrani Rehman. He shifted to Madras and propagated his dance throughout the region.

Thus the famous three ‘gurus’ have contributed in making Bharatnatyam revitalized and acceptable among general people.