Madhu Nataraj


Madhu Nataraj is an Indian classical, contemporary dancer and choreographer who lives in Bangalore.

Early life

Nataraj was born on 21 February 1971 in Bangalore to M.S.Natarajan and Maya Rao, an Indian classical dancer.

Education

Nataraj did her B.Com from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. She learnt dance at Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography in Bangalore and also enrolled for a course in journalism at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. She has a master's degree in Anthropology from Indira Gandhi Open University.
Nataraj received her dance training in Kathak under her mother Maya Rao, aunt Chitra Venugopal and Munna Shukla.
Nataraj trained in contemporary dance from Karen Potter at the Jose Limon Centre, New York. She learnt under Karen Potter and Sara Pearson.
She has trained in folk and martial dances of India and studied Yoga using the B.K.S Iyengar technique.
She studied journalism at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and was as of 2018 pursuing a master's degree in Anthropology from Indira Gandhi Open University.

Career

In 1995, Nataraj set up the STEM Dance Kampni which is the performing wing of Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography.
Nataraj has performed in various dance festivals such as the Khajuraho Festival, Khajuraho; Purana Quila Festival, Delhi; Nritya Kriti organized by Sangeet Natak Akademi, Ahmedabad; Festival of Babylon; Kathak Mahotsav, Delhi, Lucknow and Canada and Kalanidhi International Dance Festival, Toronto.

Awards

In 2010, Nataraj was awarded the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar of Sangeet Natak Akademi for her talent in the field of creative and experimental dance. She won the 50 young achievers of India today award. She also received the Mohan Khokar Award in 2011.

Other interests

Nataraj enjoys reading and she writes on various topics ranging from dance to women's issues.