Dr Padma Subrahmanyam appears with O S Arun accompanied by a team of accomplished musicians in The Indian Academy of South Africa’s forthcoming 32nd Heritage Series.This highly acclaimed annual cultural event presents classical, semi-classical and devotional music and dance featuring acclaimed artistes from India supported by guest appearance by South African artists. This cause of preserving, promoting and presenting our rich cultural heritage has been the ongoing aim of the Indian Academy, now proudly 52 years old.
The Indian Academy was founded by well-known and respected Dr T P Naidoo who has received many awards for his role in the promotion of the arts and culture in South Africa and for building bridges across the world. The Academy is an NPO and, despite hard-pressed economic times and lack of funding, it continues to persevere in its quest to promote, preserve and uplift the rich Indian Heritage.
A highlight of the Heritage Series is the Swami Thyagaraja Music Festival which takes place in the Durban City Hall on May 20.
Dr Padma Subrahmanyam is acclaimed as a rare combination of a dancer, research scholar, choreographer, singer, music composer, teacher, author and indologist. She is the daughter of Director K. Subrahmanyam who was an internationally reputed film pioneer, freedom fighter and a parental personality in the cultural field.
She has a Bachelor's Degree in Music; a Master's Degree in Ethno Musicology and her Ph.D Thesis is on Karanas in Indian Dance & Sculpture. The first to bridge the gap between theory and practice, she is the President of Nrithyodaya, the dance school founded by her father in 1942. She is also the Managing Trustee of the Bharata-Ilango Foundation for Asian Culture, which is a Pan-Asian research centre on performing arts and aims to be the Asian Cultural Corridor for artistes and philosophers to interact.
She is the Managing Trustee of Director K Subrahmanyam Memorial Trust and a Trustee of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), which comes under the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India. She is the President of Association of Bharatanatyam Artistes of India (ABHAI) and also the Programme Director (BFA & MFA Distant Education Courses), SASTRA University.
Her several awards include Padmasri and Padma Bhushan from the President of India, the Sangeet Natak Academy Award, Kalidas Samman from the Government of Madhya Pradesh and Kalaimamani and State Artiste awards from the Government of Tamilnadu.
Padma Subrahmanyam is the only classical dancer in the world to receive the prestigious Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prize from Japan for "her contribution to development & harmony in Asia". On November 26, 2010, she was conferred the Honorary Fellowship by the Asiatic Society of Mumbai founded in 1804; in the impressive list of eminent scholars who have received this prestigious honour since 1815, she is the first performing artiste to receive this honour for her academic achievements. She is also the first recipient to receive the newly instituted title of Natya Kala Acharya from the Music Academy, Chennai. The Sangeet Natak Akademi has announced the Akademi Ratna (Fellow) for Dr. Padma.
The Swami Thyagaraja Music Festival will be held in the Durban City Hall on May 20 at 14h00. Tickets R50, R40 and R30 available from B Nagiahs on 031 400 5565; S K Naidoos on 031 401 8153 or Little India Restaurant on 031 201 1121. More information from Vasantha on 074 124 6889 or 031 400 7962 or email: naidoovsm@telkomsa.net
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