Urmila Satyanarayanan - Bharatanatyam dancer

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About:

Saturday 12, April 2025, 21:15.

Urmila Satyanarayana: Born - 8 January 1975 (50 Years Old)

Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Origin India

Genres Indian classical music

Occupation Bharatanatyam dancer

Years active 2011

Members Samyuktha Satyanarayana (Daughter)

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Introduction:

Urmila Sathyanarayana is an Indian classical dancer of bharatanatyam.

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Early life and background:

Urmila Satyanarayna has been trained under the guidance of eminent gurus ‘Padmashri’ K.N. Dandayauthapani Pillai of the Vazhuvoor bani, Kalaimamani K.J. Sarasa and Padma Bhushan Kalanidhi Narayanan. She is primarily known for her Arramandi.

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Career:


Urmila has been a student of Bharatnatyam since the age of 5 and did her arrangetram at the age of 10. She has performed in venues at the national and international level, and has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Kalaimamani award of the state of Tamil Nadu and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puruskar) for the year 2023.

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Natya Sankalpa:

Urmila started the dance school, Natya Sankalpa, in the year 1996, at Kilpauk Gardens, Chennai. The institution emphasises on the knowledge of the theory of dance, carnatic music and yoga in the formation of a Bharatanatyam artist. Among the staff are talented artists such as Kalidasan Suresh, a renowned choreographer, and one of the few artistes who can both wield the cymbals and provide vocal support simultaneously for a Bharatanatyam recital. Urmila and the school has been performing at Margazhi season in Chennai for over 40 years. Natya Sankalpa celebrated its 20th anniversary with the 100th arangetram held by the school.

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Media Reference

1.

Urmila Sathyanarayanan born on Jan 8th 1966 had her debut in 1976 and has been dancing for three decades since then. Trained by PadmashriDandayuthapani Pillai, Kalaimamani K. J Sarasa and Padma BhushanKalanidhi Narayanan, she is known for her precise footwork, clean lines and graceful poses.

The Government of India awarded her scholarship and later a grant for the production of "Bharathi's Dream of An Independent India". An “A” Grade artist of the Doordarshan Kendra, Urmila is also in the list of Bharathanatyam artists empanelled by the I.C.C.R., New Delhi. She received the ‘Nadanamamani’ in 1996 from Karthik Fine Arts.She is recipient of ‘Kalaimamani’ in 1997 by the Tamil Nadu State Government and ‘NrityaChoodamani’ from Krishna Gana Sabha in 2001.She has been awarded the National Eminence award in 2003 and the Indian Fine Arts Society award for ‘best Natyaacharya’ in recognition of her excellence in teaching.

She founded the institution, ‘NatyaSankalpaa’ in the year 1996. Since its inception, over 50 students have successfully completed their arangetram. Many of their students perform as solo artistes in the December festival and NatyaSankalpaa has been invited to prestigious festivals like the Mamallapuram Festival and Natyanjali for group performances.


Urmila has danced extensively in India and abroad. Her performances abroad include Festival of India' Edinburgh – 1999, Toured Europe extensively, presenting programs in France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Norway and England – 1999 & 2000, the United States of America in 2003, Performed in Canada (2002), Malaysia (2000 & 2001), Sri Lanka (2002)., Royal Tropical Institute, Netherlands, 1999-2000, TamizSangam, Middle East 2003, Dance India Taste India Festival, Perth (2002), Sydney msic and dance Festival (2009).


She has also choreographed and performed thematic presentations. Some of them include PanchaliSapatham – musical score by Lalgudi G Jayraman, Woman – ‘Past, Present, Future’ – highlighting the status of the Indian Woman of the past, present & in the future, Programs based solely on the compositions of Thyagaraja, Annamacharya, Swati Thirunal etc.

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2.The New Indian Express:  Chennai: Aparna U:Updated on: 26 Dec 2023, 8:59 pm

'Thadathagai - The Eternal Queen of Madurai': Telling the tale of a queen

Natya Sankalpaa was established in 1996 at Kilpauk Gardens, Chennai. Almost 55 students of the institution are performing for Thadathagai.

Dancers performing 'Thadathagai - The Eternal Queen of Madurai'

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CHENNAI: Bharatanatyam dancer Urmila Sathyanarayan has been contributing and performing in the Margazhi season for the past 40-50 years. Every year, she and her organisation Natya Sankalpaa comes up with different ideas and themes for their performances. While brainstorming ideas for the 35th Margazhi Mahotsav she and her team stumbled upon Thadathagai, known as the queen of Madurai and thus birthed the upcoming performance, Thadathagai - The Eternal Queen of Madurai.

“I was thinking of doing a production but was not sure on what concept, that is when a friend approached me about playing Meenakshi Kalyanam for half an hour. I really liked the idea and decided to make it a two-hour programme,” says Urmila. 


Natya Sankalpaa was established in 1996 at Kilpauk Gardens, Chennai. Almost 55 students of the institution are performing for Thadathagai. Urmila says, “We drew our inspiration from Thiruvilayadal Puranam and it is mentioned there that Thadathagai is the original name that was given to Lord Madurai Meenakshy Amman. The lyrics for the performance have been sourced by Desamangayarkarasi and her student Aravind Kumar from Thiruvilayadal Puranam, and the magical musical score was done  by Embar Kannan.” 


Urmila mentions that Thadathagai is like a dream come true, as the team had started off on a small scale and never thought that the performance would branch out and grow into something that would make them proud. “Thadathagai is an informative and entertaining show, choreographed by Saikripa, a faculty of Natya Sankalpaa and by myself. We have been working on this show for the past 10 long months, where the complete crew along with the students joined after 2 months,” she says.


Urmila mentions that while curating the team mainly concentrated on making the choreography more appealing to the commoners so that they can enjoy and understand it. She says, “Thadathagai is not like a usual Bharatanatyam performance that is made only for a certain group of people who know the dance form. This show is for everyone of all generations and that makes these performances more special.”

Natya Sankalpaa expects that with this performance they manage to reach a wider range of audience in this Margazhi season. “Recently Thadathagai was performed at Narada Gana Sabha, Mylapore and it garnered positive feedback from the audience. They also expressed genuine appreciation and they thoroughly enjoyed it,” concludes Urmila.

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