Hema Rajagopalan

🪔 About

Hema Rajagopalan is a globally renowned Bharatanatyam dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She spent her youngest years in Chennai, India, where she began her dance journey in 1956 at the age of six under the tutelage of her devadasi guru, Swarna Saraswathy. Hailed as a child prodigy, she performed her first arangetram after just six months of training in 1956. Rajagopalan furthered her studies under eminent Bharatanatyam figures, including Padmasri K.N. Dandayudapani Pillai in Chennai and his brothers K.N. Pakkiriswami Pillai and K.N. Dakshinamoorthy Pillai in Delhi. She presented her second arangetram at age nine and was touring the country by age ten. In the early 1980s, she deepened her study of abhinaya, the art of histrionic expression, under Padma Bhushan Kalanidhi Narayanan. In 1974, Hema Rajagopalan moved to Chicago, Illinois, USA, and a year later, in 1975, she founded the Natya Dance Theatre. As its Artistic Director, she has been instrumental in preserving and promoting Bharatanatyam in the United States, while also evolving the art form through dynamic and versatile choreography that respects tradition and reaches diverse audiences. Her daughter, Krithika Rajagopalan, serves as the Co-Artistic Director. Rajagopalan has curated significant dance conferences in the U.S., including "In the Diaspora: Spiritual, Classical, Contemporary" in 2001 and "Dance India" in 2006. She has collaborated with renowned artists and institutions such as Yo-Yo Ma, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Chitravina Ravikiran. Over her extensive career, she has trained more than a thousand students, many of whom have gone on to establish their own schools or become dance professors. Awards & Honours: Asian American Heritage Council Award, City of Chicago Award, Vishwa Kala Bharathi Award for Artistic Excellence, National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Award, Illinois Arts Council Grant, Emmy Award (for PBS production of World Stage Chicago), Nritya Seva Mani (Devotee of Dance) Award (2004), Lifetime Achievement Award by Soorya Dance Festival (2011), Dance Legacy Award by See Chicago Dance (2021), Recognition by the Women's L Project (2022), ABHAI Pravasi Natya Kalanidhi Award (2024).