Vigilance and anti corruption in tamil

Guru MK Saroja: True bhakta of Bharatanatyam
- Ashish Mohan Khokar, Bangalore
com
Based on archival materials from The Mohan Khokar Dance Collection

March 28, 2010

As she starts her journey into becoming an octogenarian this April, this "unpretentious doyenne of Bharatanatyam (India Today, 1999)" has seen Bharatanatyam's history first-hand.

Through her own life and times, she saw the temple dance come out of its fading lights into the arc lights of big cities and also films. She was a witness to, and part of, many an interesting twist and turn in the fortunes of the form and yet remains an egoless practitioner, long-term watcher and quiet servitor of the divine art.

That she herself danced for almost 60 unbroken years (1940-2000), makes her a very significant source of direct dance history of the form.

Born on 7th April, 1931, in Madras (hence Madras Kadiravelu Saroja), she was spotted by Guru Muthukumaran Pillai, when he came to Madras to teach Sadir dance to girls