The Dancer - Padmasri Alarmel Valli 

A single long-stemmed rose, full blown, and exquisite, combining the subtlest nuances of form and color and fragrance to make the perfect whole, held in a vase of the clearest cut glass. This is Valli! – Late K.P.S. Menon, Statesman and Indian Ambassador to Russia

Watching Valli, I am not sure if great sculpture is a human body made for eternity in stone, or if it is the body which becomes a work of art – a living statue, in a harmonious flow of plastic visions. – Gian Carlo Calza; Venice, 1989

Ever since she was invited to perform at the International Dance Festival of the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre De La Ville in Paris at the tender age of 16, accolades and universal appreciation have poured in for Alarmel Valli, the exquisite exponent of the Bharatanatyam dance form. Each of her performances has been hailed as a veritable tour de force, a brilliant rendition of the ancient Indian art that demands of its practitioners total dedication, vigorous practice, and full concentration.

Trained in the Pandanallur tradition by renowned Gurus, the late Sri Chokkalingam Pillai and his son Sri Subbaraya Pillai, Valli has worked on developing and perfecting a style that would be seamless and fluid, and yet would retain the precision, power, and purity of line, typical of the Pandanallur style. Her extensive research on the 2000-year-old Tamil anthologies of Sangam poetry, remarkable for their richness and subtlety, has resulted in a significant body of work over a period spanning 12 years. Through the language of dance, and the exploration of the many complex layers of meaning in these poems, she has worked to give the words a visual and melodic dimension, creating a seamless fusion of the poetry of words, music, and movement.

Recipient of numerous awards, Alarmel Valli was conferred the State award of Kalaimamani in 1979 and was made the State Artist of Tamil Nadu between 1981 & 1984. In December 1985, she was awarded the title of Nrithya Choodamani by the Krishna Gana Sabha in Madras. In January 1991, she was the youngest dancer to be conferred the President's award of “Padmasri”. In 1997, she was honored by the City of Paris with the ‘Grande Medaille de la Ville de Paris’. She founded the Dipashikha Centre for Performing Arts in 1984 and has choreographed works for her students that have been presented in Japan and the US. In 2002, Alarmel Valli received the Award of the Sangeet Natak Akademy- the apex body for Music, Dance and Drama in India.