Lakshmi Viswanathan is the recipient of several awards, including the Kalaimamani of the TN Government. , photo credit: file photo
Renowned Bharatanatyam dancer and guru, writer and researcher Lakshmi Viswanathan passed away here on Thursday. She was 78 years old. She had chest tightness and was taking medicine. According to his sister and Carnatic singer Charumathi Ramachandran, he complained of breathlessness in the morning and died suddenly.
On January 27, 1944, noted film director K. Subramaniam and Alamelu Vishwanathan’s brother K. Born to Viswanathan, Lakshmi gave her ‘Rangatram’ at the age of 7 at the Rasika Ranjani Sabha in Mylapore. Among the many awards he has received are the Kalaimamani from the Government of Tamil Nadu, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award from the President of India and titles such as Nritya Choodamani (Sri Krishna Gana Sabha) and Nritya Kalanidhi (Music Academy, Madras), as well as the Kalidas Samman.
A Gold Medalist in English Literature from the University of Madras, he wrote four books – Kunjamma-Ode to a Nightingale (a biography of MS Subbulakshmi); Proud Women-Devdasi Heritage; Kapaleeswarar Temple; and Bharatanatyam: The Tamil Heritage.
‘scholarly approach’
The Music Academy President N. Murali said, “His dance had a profound and scholarly approach based on beauty and subtlety. Initially starting with a classical margam format, their dance evolved into thematic and group productions. She can be described as a dancer’s dancer. She was a prolific writer, scholar and researcher with many articles, lecture performances and books to her credit. She had a long association with the Sangeet Akademi as a member and later as a vice-president. She was also the recipient of several awards including the Nritya Kalanidhi Award from The Music Academy for the year 2017.
Bharatanatyam guru and noted dancer Padma Subrahmanyam said, “It is sad to digest that my cousin sister Lakshmi Vishwanathan is no more. Apart from my personal loss with the horrifying memories of our childhood, it is a loss to the world of Bharatanatyam. Lakshmi was an artist, guru, writer and an ever-happy friend to the fraternity.
Ms. Ramachandran, who has sung for Lakshmi’s performances for 20 years, said she was “deeply influenced by the aesthetics of Sangeet dance, having trained with our sister Sujaya. She was very picky about the standards and volume of the dance orchestra. She was the first to introduce English explanations for each item in the early 70s. She was influenced by the traditional ‘Varnam’ of the Thanjavur Quartet. We learned ‘Padam’ and ‘Javali’ from Brinda and Muktha and Swathi Thirunal compositions from Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.