Nartaki Natraj

Narthaki Nataraj is a Bharatanatyam dancer. In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri, making her the first transgender woman to be awarded the Padma Shri.

Life and career

Born in a village near Madurai, Narthaki Nataraj is a disciple of Tanjore Shri K P Kittappa Pillai. Shri Kittappa Pillai was a direct descendant of the Tanjore Quartet. Narthaki stayed with him and learnt in Gurukul for 15 years. She also worked as an assistant to Shri Kittappa Pillai in Tanjore Tamil University. After her guru's demise in 1999, she moved to Chennai in 2000 and has been a full time professional dancer since then.

Narthaki Nataraj was born in the third gender and was subject to ridicule and rejection by family and society. Her life and journey has been included as a lesson in the 11th Standard Tamil Text book of Tamilnadu Government in 2018

Narthaki specialises in the Tanjore based Nayaki Bhava Tradition. Along with her friend Shakti Bhaskar, she had set up a dance school "Velliambalam Nadana Kalai Koodam" in Chennai and Madurai. She trains students from India and abroad in the traditional repertoire of Tanjore Quartets.

Awards

• Padma Shri from Government of India
• Kalamamani Award of Tamilnadu Government 2007 and Nritya Choodamani Award from Krishna Gana Sabha 2009
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar Award 2011
• Honorary Doctorate from Periyar Maniammai University 2016
• ICCR Empanelled Dance Artist in Outstanding Category 2017