K. Venkatalakshamma

When the Faculty of Dance was founded at the University of Mysore in 1965 Venkatalakshamma became its first Reader and retired after serving for nine years in 1974. After her retirement her granddaughter Shakuntalamma served as the Reader. Venkatalakshamma trained a host of dancers from both India and abroad, served as dance teacher and Principal at various institutes including the Nupura School of Bharatanatyam in Bangalore.

Venkatalakshamma was appointed "Asthana Vidushi," royal court dancer, by the great King Krishnarajendra Wodeyar IV in 1939 and soon she became a household name in the world of Bharatanatyam. (But, in the documentary produced by the Kannada culture Department of the government of Karnataka she her self has told that in the interview that she took the Asthana Vidusshi exam when she was 21 years young. she was born in 1906+21=1927 should be the year of appointment as the court doyen). She is credited with taking the Mysore style of Bharatanatyam to its zenith. She served as Asthana Vidushi for an incredible 40 years in the courts of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV and Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, the last of the Mysore rulers.

K. Venkatalakshamma (29 May 1906 – 1 July 2002) was a renowned Bharatanatyam dancer. A doyenne of the Mysore Style of Bharatanatyam, she was the last representative of the Mysore court tradition. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 1992.

Venkatalakshamma was born on 29 May 1906 in a Lambani family in Tangali Tanda (now V. L. Nagar), Kadur. At the age of eight her grandparents took her to the royal court of Mysore to learn Bharatanatyam under the tutelage of the well-known dancer, 'Natya Saraswati' Jatti Thayamma.