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Smt Padmini Ravi

Padmini began learning the fundamentals of Bharatanatyam at an early age. As a child of nine when she first made her steps in Bharatanatyam, under KJ Sarasa in Chennai it was the joy of the rhythm of this art form that exited  and spurred her on. The only child of a conservative Iyengar family, her neurosurgeon father and her classical vocalist mother encouraged her to continue dancing as the girl turned teenager. By the age of 15 she was performing solos at various dance festivals.

In 1980, she set up the Pradhan Centre for Arts, which proved to be the nucleus of many, a meaningful dance activity in Bangalore. Productions like Shakthi, Krishna Bhakti Mala, and Dashavataram have stood testimony to the fact that the dancers trained by her are artistes of merit. She was awarded the State Rajyotsava Award and the Sangeetha Nritya Academy Award in recognition of her efforts. For more than three decades now, Padmini toured the globe not just performing, choreographing and teaching but also imbibing techniques from other dance forms

Since 1994, however she has felt the increasing need to push the boundaries of her craft and to explore the unknown. She wanted to make dance more relevant and accessible to the evolving urban audiences. Sarvam Shivam, Marichika, Rhythms of India among others was a result of her experimentation. Combining traditional techniques of Nritta and Abhinaya, she explored new horizons of themes and dance languages. She did this not just with a view to experiment but mainly with the objective of bringing into fold a new generation who might never be able to relate to classical Bharatanatyam.

Collaborating with theatre exponents, learning the technical process of Film Making, combining the best of East & West have become the order of the day for her. Another of her efforts in this direction is Yogercise, a fitness regimen based on the ancient arts of Yoga, Bharatanatyam to meet modern day needs She is the driving force for AFFA (Artistes Foundation For the Arts) a non-profit organization that aims to explore alternative and innovative approaches of mounting workshops, seminars, events and training in the performing arts with a special focus of traditional arts.

Awards - She is a recipient of the : Sangeetha Nritya Academy Award in 1996 State Rajyotsava Award on 1998