Bharatanatyam legend Yamini Krishnamurti dies at 84

Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi veteran and Padma awardee Yamini Krishnamurti died at the Apollo hospital in Delhi last week. She was 84. “She was suffering from age-related issues and was in the ICU for the last seven months," Krishnamurti's manager and secretary Ganesh said. Krishnamurti's mortal remains will be brought to her institute -Yamini School of Dance at Hauz Khas.
Born on December 20, 1940 in Madanapalli in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district to Sanskrit scholar M Krishnamurti, she took to dance at the tender age of five at the Kalakshetra School of Dance in Chennai under the tutelage of legendary Bharatanatyam dancer Rukmini Devi Arundale. Also proficient in the form of Kuchipudi, Krishnamurti expanded her horizon by learning Odissi from the likes of Pankaj Charan Das and Kelucharan Mohapatra. Besides learning the various dance forms, Krishnamurti was trained in Carnatic vocals and the veena.
Krishnamurti received Padma Shri at the young age of 28 in 1968, Padma Bhushan in 2001 and Padma Vibhushan in 2016. She was also conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1977. Speaking about her contribution to Bharatanatyam, veteran dancer and one of her first students, Rama Vaidyanathan, said she brought “power, beauty and glamour” to the dance form.