Bharatanatyam dancer Rajeswari Sainath conferred Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Hyderabad-based Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer Rajeswari Sainath has been conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, one of India’s highest honours for performing artists.
Sainath, known for her work in Bharatanatyam and her experiments blending rhythm, laya, and neurobiology with classical dance, was named among the artistes selected for the Akademi Award. The honour recognises her contribution to Indian classical dance as a performer, teacher, scholar and researcher over four decades.
Based in Hyderabad, Sainath runs Srutilaya Kendra Natarajalaya and has performed extensively across India and abroad. She is credited with exploring mathematical influences and rhythmic precision in Bharatanatyam choreography, and has collaborated with percussionists including the late mridangam maestro Karaikudi Mani. She earlier received the Tamil Nadu government’s Kalaimamani award in 2018 for her services to classical dance.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, instituted by India’s National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, carries a purse of ₹1 lakh along with a Tamrapatra and Angavastram. It honours artistes for their outstanding contribution to music, dance and theatre.
Sainath has also collaborated with her daughter, Bharatanatyam dancer Vyshnavie Sainath, presenting traditional margams and contemporary works that fuse Bharatanatyam with scientific concepts. She holds a doctoral degree in mathematics, which she has applied to study the intricacies of laya in dance compositions.
