Priyamvada Sankar

🪔 About

Priyamvada Sankar is a revered Bharatanatyam exponent, scholar, and teacher, widely recognized for her profound dedication to the traditional Balasaraswati School style. She is the foremost disciple of the legendary T. Balasaraswati, under whom she underwent eighteen years of rigorous daily training, commencing privately in 1951 and continuing at the T. Balasaraswati Classical Bharatanatyam School at the Madras Music Academy from 1953. She also received training from K. Ganesan. During the Bharatanatyam renaissance of the 1950s and 1960s in India, Sankar was a prominent performer, giving numerous concerts at the Madras Music Academy and other esteemed institutions across the country. At the age of twelve, she was honored by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, and in 1962, she led the first Indian cultural delegation to Nepal. In 1967 or 1968, Priyamvada Sankar relocated to Montreal, Canada, where she established the Priyamvada Sankar School of Bharata Natyam in the Fall of 1968, marking it as the first institution of its kind in Montreal. Over more than four and a half decades, she has successfully preserved and propagated the Balasaraswati tradition, teaching hundreds of students, including Indians, Canadians, and Americans. The school celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019. Beyond dance, Sankar is a respected Sanskrit scholar, holding a Gold Medal in Sanskrit for her Bachelor of Arts. She specialized in authoritative treatises like the Natya Shastra under the tutelage of her father, Dr. V. Raghavan, a world-renowned Sanskritist. She is also a trained Carnatic vocalist and a senior actor in Samskrita Ranga's Sanskrit Plays (1958-68). Her contributions to multiculturalism and arts in Canada have earned her several accolades. Awards & Honours: Canadian Award for Multiculturalism, Order of Merit (Brossard City), Honors by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Gold Medalist in Sanskrit (Bachelor of Arts), Medal of the National Assembly (Government of Quebec), Outstanding Indo-Canadian (National Association for Canadians of Indian Origin - NACOI).