A LAKSHMANASWAMY

Lakshman was born in Malaysia, and drew great inspiration to learn and perform Bharatanatyam. Initiated into the art under Guru Smt. Meera Venugopal of Bharatha Kalanjali, Malaysia, and later, shifting to Chennai, he came under the direct tutelage of the well renowned and highly acclaimed Guru K. J. Sarasa at “Sarasalaya”. He has also had the opportunity to learn under the greatest stalwarts in the field- Professor Smt. Sudharani Raghupathy, Professor C. V. Chandrashekar and abhinaya exponent Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan. He continues his journey into Bharatanatyam as a performer of great repute and a much sought after teacher. He heads “Nrithyalakshana” an institute for classical arts in Chennai where he imparts training in Bhartanatyam in its most authentic and pure form. 

Besides performing as a seasoned artist at the prestigious sabhas in Chennai, Lakshman has participated in a number of national dance festivals throughout the country. He has extensively travelled in France, USA, Malaysia, Singapore, UK and Japan. He is an empanelled “A” graded artist of the ICCR and an “A” graded artist of the Doordarshan, India. 

Apart from solo performances, Lakshman has taken part in several dance dramas in a variety of roles. 

Some of these include :

• Sarasalaya's "Kundrakudi Kuravanji" at the Natyotsava Festival, and "Shakuntalam" performed at Narada Gana Sabha.
• Played the key role of Lord Krishna in International Dance Alliance's "Krishnam Vande Jagat Gurum" choregraphed by Padmashri Dr. Sudharani Raghupathy with music set by Vidwan Madurai N.Krishnan - performed at 16 centers in the US and Canada.
• Played the roles of Kamsa, Duryodhana and the wrestler in "Panchajanyam" - echo of emotions from Nalayiram Divya Prabhandam organised and choreographed by Anita Ratnam.

Some of his other noteworthy performances have been at :

- The Purandara Dasa and Vijaynagar Dasara Festival at Hampi, Karnataka

- The Dance Festival of Natarajotsava in Mysore

- The Mamallapuram Dance Festival

Awards & Titles:

- Best Dancer award from The Indian Fine Arts Society
- DharamaVarappu Sitarama Anjaneyulu Prize
- Rohini Krishnan Award from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha 

- Sri Narasimhachari and Smt. Vasanthalakshmi prize from Narada Gana Sabha 

- Best Guru Award from The Madras Music Academy in 2006 & 2016

 - ‘Acharya Choodamani’ from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha 

- ‘Nadanamamani’ from Kartik Fine Arts
- ‘Bharatha Kala Ratna’ from Shree Bharatalaya
- ‘Yuva Kala Bharathi’ from Bharath Kalachar
- ‘Swayam Prakasha Narthaka’ from Sarasalaya.