Vannadil Pudiyaveettil Dhananjayan (born 30 April 1939) and Shanta Dhananjayan (born 12 August 1943), collectively known as the Dhananjayans, are an Indian dance duo specializing in

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.< ...

and

Kathakali ''Kathakali'' (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Kathakaḷi ) is a traditional form of Indian Classical Dance, and one of the most complex forms of Theatre of India, Indian theatre. It is a play of verses. These vers ...

Personal life

V.P Dhananjayan was born into a

Malayali The Malayali people (; also spelt Malayalee and sometimes known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala and Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India, occupying its south ...

family of eight children on 30 April 1939 in

Payyanur Payyanur (), is a municipal town and a taluk, a sub-district administrative unit, in the Kannur district of Kerala, India. Payyanur is the first municipality in Kerala to establish libraries in all its wards. On 10 March 2018, Kerala Chief Min ...

Kannur District Kannur () is one of the 14 Districts of Kerala, districts along the west coast in the state of Kerala, India. The city of Kannur is the district headquarters and gives the district its name. The old name, Cannanore, is the anglicized form of th ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, India. A chance encounter with

Master Guru Chandu Panicker of Kalakshetra made his father decide to send his son and V. Balagopalan to Kalakshetra under his tutelage. Dhananjayan joined Kalakshetra on 5th of October 1953 and trained as a male dancer under Rukmini Devi Arundale (founder of Kalakshetra) from 1955 to 1967. He graduated from Kalakshetra with a Postgraduate Diploma in Dance (

and

) with distinction. Additionally, he holds a B.A. degree in Economics and Politics. Shanta Dhananjayan was born on 12 August 1943 into a

family in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and traces her ancestral roots to

, from where her family migrated to

. In June 1952, at the age of eight, she was sent to Kalakshetra, where she later graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in

with distinction and also trained in

and

Carnatic music Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha. It is o ...

. She was a prominent female dancer at Kalakshetra from 1955 to 1968. The couple has two sons. The elder, Sanjay, lives in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and the younger, Satyajit, lives with his wife and son 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 ...

, India, and is a dancer, choreographer, dance instructor, and automobile photographer.

In Kalakshetra

Dhananjayan received a scholarship at Kalakshetra to study

, Kathakali, Mridangam and music. Shanta trained in

and music, in addition to other subjects for nearly a decade. They have said that whatever they have been able to achieve is due to the mentoring of their Gurus Rukmini Devi Arundale and Chandu Panicker as well as various other faculty members of Kalakshetra such as NS Jayalakshmi and Sarada Hoffman. Shanta was the first girl he met as he was being escorted into the portals of Kalakshetra by Guru Panicker. Though Shanta was a student completely devoted to her dance and music, she had secretly made up her mind, at the age of twelve, to partner Dhananjayan in life. Dhananjayan expressed his desire to marry Shanta when she was eighteen years old, but she left for

after graduation and did not let him know of her consent until after returning to India four years later. They married in 1966 at the Guruvayoor Temple in

Career

The Dhananjayans left Kalakshetra in the late 1960s to build a career on their own. Their performances and productions include: *Pandit

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitar, sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Hin ...

's Magnum Opus "GHANASHYAM" 1989/90 *National Dance Institute, New York "CHAKRA", with a cast of 1,000 multinational children *A joint venture of Ohio Ballet Co., Cuyahoga Community College, and Cleveland Cultural Alliance– Jungle Book Ballet *Choreographer for International Art Festival of Government of Singapore, "Sita Rama Katha" 1986 in the same festival, choreographed dance drama "Sanghamitra" with Singapore Artistes 1994 *Mahaabhaaratham dance drama jointly produced by French Theatre Fluerry & Association Vaani in Reunion French Island 1998, 1999

Bharata Kalanjali

The Dhananjayans registered their own dance school ''Bharata Kalanjali'' in 1971 in Adyar, Chennai. It is still active today with the classes recently shifted to

Taramani Tharamani is an area in the south Indian city of Chennai. It is known for the presence of the city's first IT parks and numerous government educational and research institutions. It is located adjacent to the posh residential area of Adyar an ...

, their current school at The Spastics Society of Tamil Nadu.

Bhaaskara

The couple has established an academy of arts at Dhananjayan's birthplace

. They conducted an annual summer Naatya Gurukulam camp, which is no longer in operation.

Yogaville

The Dhananjayans have been conducting an annual summer gurukulam camp at the Satchidananda

Ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Yogaville Yogaville, or Satchidananda Ashram, is the Buckingham County, Virginia headquarters of Satchidananda Saraswati's organization. Ashram The ashram was founded in 1980 by Satchidananda Saraswati, whose western notability stems from his openi ...

in Buckingham County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, USA, since 1988. Developed by the Natya Adyayana Gurukulam, the camp is an intensive, full-time residential course devoted entirely to the fine arts. Situated in the Virginia countryside, it is attended by Indian-American and international students.

Honours

Some of the awards and accolades conferred on the Dhananjayans include: *

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

, Government of India, 2009 * Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship, 1994 *Guruvandam, 2015 *Kalaimamani Award, 1990 *Natya Selvam Award, 2022

Social issues and politics

Dhananjayan's publication, ''Beyond Performing Art and Culture'', discusses various social and political issues concerning present-day India or Bhaaratam, the way he urges everyone to call the country.

Films

V. P. Dhananjayan played a role in Gautham Menon's 2023 film '' Dhruva Natchathiram: Chapter One – Yuddha Kaandam'', while Shanta played a martial arts guru in the 2024 Malayalam period film '' Malaikottai Vaaliban''.

Publications

V. P Dhananjayan has published: *''Beyond Performing Art and Culture: Politico-Socio Aspects'', V.P. Dhananjayan. New Delhi, B.R. Rhythms, 2007, xviii, 314 p., ills, . *''Dhananjayan on Indian Classical Dance'', V.P. Dhananjayan, B.R. Rhythms, 2004, 3rd revised edition,

References

External links

{{Authority control Dancers from Kerala Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts Teachers of Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam exponents Kalakshetra Foundation alumni Art duos People from Kannur district Married couples Women educators from Kerala 20th-century Indian educators 20th-century Indian dancers Educators from Kerala 20th-century Indian women artists Women artists from Kerala Indian female classical dancers 20th-century Indian women educators Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship