Rajee Narayan

Rajee Narayan is a dancer musician and a composer living in Mumbai, India. She is the founder-director of Nritya Geetanjali, a dance school in Mumbai which trains students in bharatanatyam, carnatic music and nattuvangam in addition to courses on make-up and hairstyling for bharatanatyam.[1]

Formative years

Rajee Narayan was born on 19 August 1931 in Chennai, the 11th child of S. Narayana Iyer and Gangammal. Rajee started to learn Bharatanatyam at age 5, from her elder sister, Neela Balasubramaniam, founder-director, Nataraja Natya Niketan and K. Lalitha, founder-director, Sri Saraswathi Gana Nilayam.

At the age of four, Narayan commercially recorded the composition, 'Neraminchakura' (Shankarabharanam raga – Ikana tala). She also released records on story-telling songs for children and some plays. At that early age, she had started acting and singing her own songs in the movies that her father produced.

She participated in the dance-dramas and Kollata Jothrai festivals, conducted by Kadappai Lakshmiammal, through her sabha, Indumadar Lakshmi Vilasa Sabha, run specially for ladies.

Compositions

Narayan has composed over 200 songs for bharatanatyam and has published some of them in her book Nritya Geetamala (2 volumes). She has also released a book on the basics of carnatic music called Sangeeta Shartra Mala. She is also the author of Natya shastra mala, a book explaining the basics of natya shastram.

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References
  1. "A balancing act". The Indian Express. 12 June 1997. Retrieved 8 August 2010.

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