Alarmel Valli (born 14 September 1956) is an Indian classical dancer and

Bharatanatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jainism.< ...

- Pandanallur choreographer. She founded The Dipasikha Dance Foundation in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

in 1984, where she teaches

. In 1991, Alarmel Valli was the second youngest dancer to be conferred the Padma Shri from the Government of India, after Vyjayanthimala. She was awarded the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IAST: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recogni ...

in 2001 by India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, followed by the Padma Bhushan award from the Government of India in 2004 and Chevalier of Arts and Letters award from the

Government of France The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...

, also in 2004.

Career

She made her stage debut at 9 ½ at The Indian Institute of Fine Arts, Madras, and was conferred the Natya Kala Bhushan award. She won her laurels on the international scene when she was barely 16 at the International Dance Festival of the prestigious

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

Théâtre de la Ville in Paris and has performed in landmark theatres and festivals ever since, both in India and aboard. Her research in classical

Tamil literature Tamil literature includes a collection of literary works that have come from a tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the T ...

and the anthologies of the 2000-year-old Sangam poetry has resulted in a significant repertoire of dance poems. Over the years, she has evolved her distinct style within the framework of classical Bharatanatyam.Alarmel Valli Biography
keralawomen.gov.in; accessed 13 May 2017. Among her leading students are Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy of the Ragamala Dance Company in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

and Meenakshi Srinivasan. Some highlights of Alarmél Valli's international career include her performances at the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈat(ə)r, t=Grand Theater) is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolutio ...

, The Vienna International Dance Festival, The Munich Opera Festival, The Edinburgh Festival, The New York International Festival of Arts, The Avignon Festival, The Cervantino Festival, the Lyon Biennale, The

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

, The Royal Albert Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, The Helsinki Biennale, The Millennium Festival in Berlin and The Frankfurt Alt Oper. In July 2015, she was the first Indian classical dancer to perform at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

In popular culture

A film on Alarmel Valli was made for the Omnibus series, on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

, by producer Michael Macintyre. Alarmel Valli has also been featured in dance documentaries by noted Indian producers like the late G. Aravindan and

Prakash Jha Prakash Jha (born 27 February 1952) is an Indian film producer, actor, director and screenwriter, mostly known for his political and socio-political films such as ''Hip Hip Hurray (film), Hip Hip Hurray'' (1984), ''Damul'' (1984), ''Mrityudand ...

, by the BBC (in The Spirit of Asia Series), the Netherlands Broadcasting Company, Arte (France), and Japanese National Television. The

Films Division of India The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ...

commissioned a film, titled 'Pravahi', on her for the National Archives of India. It was directed by eminent filmmaker Arun Khopkar, with cinematography by Madhu Ambat. In 2011,
Lasya Kavya
', a documentary about Alarmel Valli by award-winning director, Sankalp Meshram, won the National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film.

Personal life

Alarmel Valli is married to Bhaskar Ghose, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.

Selected awards and honours

* 1979: State award of ''

Kalaimamani The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government ...

'' from Tamil Nadu Government * 1980: Nrithya Vikas, from Sur Singar, Mumbai * 1985: Nritya Choodamani, from Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai. * 1991: Padma Sri from the Government of India. * 1997: Awarded the Grande Medaille (Medal) by the City of Paris. * 2001: Sangeet Natak Academy Award, New Delhi * 2004: Padma Bhushan from the Government of India * 2004: Chevalier of Arts and Letters award from the

* 2012: Naatya Padmam from Brahma Gana Sabha, Chennai * 2014: Natya Utsav Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai * 2015: Natya Kala Acharya award from The Music Academy, Chennai * 2018: Nritya Peroli award from Karthik Fine Arts, Chennai

External links

Alarmel Valli's Official Website

References