Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai
Vazhuvoor B. Ramaiyah Pillai (1910 - 1979) was a famous Bharathanatyam teacher from Tamil Nadu. He was popularly referred as Vazhuvoorar.
Early life
Vazhuvoor Ramaiyah Pillai was born in the year 1910 to Parthiban and Bagyathammal in Vazhuvoor. He learnt the arts of Nattuvangam and Bharatanatyam from his maternal uncle Maanikka Nattuvanar.
Career
He was appreciated for introducing innovative trials in Bharatanatyam. He had implemented Rama Natak Kiruti, Tyagaraya Swami Kiruti, Bharathiyar songs, Kutralak Kuravanji, Arunachala Kavi songs, Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi songs in Baratanatyam through his instructions. During the time British had banned Bharathiyar's songs, Vazhuvoor made these songs performed by his students in stage plays thereby encouraging the Indian Independence support.
Family
His elder son is Samraj and his younger son Manikka Vinayagam is a famous singer for Tamil movies.
Notable Students of Ramaiyah Pillai
Some of the notable students of Vazhuvoor B. Ramaiyah Pillai are
- Padmini
- Lalitha
- Vyjayanthimala
- E. V. Saroja
- Padma Subrahmanyam
- Kamala Lakshmanan
- Kanaga Sreenivasan
- Dance educator Sujatha Vijayaraghavan
- Chitra Visweswaran
- Ramani Thilagam (wife of Poet Vali)
Awards
Following were the awards received by Vazhuvoorar
- Isai Perarignar, 1961;[1] given by Tamil Isai Sangam at Chennai
- Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1966[2]
- Sangeetha Kalasikhamani, 1979
- Padmasri
- Kalaimamani
- Naatya Kala Kesari