Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam (born 4 February 1943, in Madras), is an Indian classical Bharatanatyam dancer. She is also a research scholar, choreographer, music composer, musician, teacher and author. She is famous in India as well as abroad: several films and documentaries have been made in her honor by countries like Japan, Australia and Russia.

Biography

Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam was born to Director K. Subrahmanyam and Meenakshi Subrahmanyam on 4 February 1943 in Madras (now Chennai). Her father was a famous Indian filmmaker. Her mother, Meenakshi was a music composer, and a lyricist in Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

 and Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

. She was trained by Vazhuvoor B. Ramaiah Pillai.

Padma has a bachelor's degree in Music, a Master's degree in Ethno-Musicology, as well as a Ph.D. in Dance. She has authored many articles, research papers, and books and has served as a non-official member of the Indo-Sub-commission for education and culture.

Awards

Dr. Padma has received many awards and honors to her credit including 'Padmashri' in 1981, 'Padma Bhushan' in 2003, which are among the highest civilian awards of India. During her dancing career, she has received several awards, including:

• 'Sangeet Natak Akademi Award' (1983)
• 'Padma Bhushan' (2003)
• 'Kalaimamani Award' from the federal government of Tamilnadu
• 'Kalidas Samman' from the federal government of Madhya Pradesh,
• 'Nada Brahmam' from Narada Gana Sabha in Chennai,
• 'Bharata Sastra Rakshamani'
• 'Nehru Award' (1983) from the Soviet Union
• 'Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prize' from Japan, for "her contribution to development and harmony in Asia"