Kalamandalam Radhika

Dr. Kalamandalam Radhika is an Indian classical dancer, choreographer, research scholar, teacher, writer and philanthropist, well known as the Ambassador of Mohiniyattom. She was the first non-resident Keralite to win the prestigious Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi award for Mohiniyattom.

Dr. Kalamandalam Radhika was born in Bangalore to K.K Nair, a reputed chartered accountant. She started learning dancing at the age of three under Guru Rajan. In her insatiable passion to learn about different aspects of dance, she learnt Kathakali from Muttar Sri. Narayana Panicker and mridhangamvaitharis from Guru Ponniahpillai.

In the late 1960s she has come down to Cheruthuruthy and stayed at the Kalamandalam for four years. Under the wings of Chinnammu Amma, Kalamandalam Sathyabhama and Kalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair she moulded in to a consummate performer. Her tutelage under the Late Kalamandalam KalyaniKutty Amma and her training under Kalamandalam Padmanabha Ashan in Kathakali honed her talent to a greater extent.

She has conducted more than 2000 performances in India and abroad at national and international levels. She is the prestigious member of the UNESCO International Dance Council. She has conducted her performances for WHO delegates, SAARC delegates, several diplomats, Soviet representatives, and others. To explore the depths of Mohiniyattom, she has done extensive research on Mohiniyattom and re organized the basic steps, jewellery and costumes worn by the Mohiniyattom dancers in the earlier 1940s. She has elegantly executed the Biblical themes and has choreographed the advent of Christianity in India, birth of Christ and has conducted several workshops in US, UK, Europe, Atlanta, Scunthorpe and most part of Germany. She has also choreographed and danced for Behold thy mother, a biblical film-directed by an Italian priest Fr. Gerard. She has composed and choreographed 5 cholkettus, 3 varnams and innumerable padams in different languages. She was constantly criticized by people for performing biblical themes in Mohiniattam, but confronted everyone with her extreme dedication. The poetical works of VeerappaMoily, Kuvempu, Fr. Abel, Amruth Someshwar and St. Chavara immortalized by Radhika were well accepted. She has written plenty of articles for the dance and music magazine `SHRUTILAYA’ and has submitted a paper on Mohiniyattom on a seminar organized by the NCERT on the subject of ‘Dance Education in Schools'.

She has also written an article about the Devadasi system of Kerala for the weekly 'INDU', published from Houston, USA. She is the author of books 'Mohiniyattom-The Lyrical Dance of Kerala´ and ‘Mudra’ published by Mathrabhoomi.