Bharatanatyam dancer Narthaki Nataraj who lives in Mylapore was today, along with many others conferred the Padma Shri award by India’s president Ram Nath Govind at a special function held at Rashtrapathi Bhavan in Delhi.
Narthaki is the first transgender artiste to be decorated with a Padma award.
A dancer who performs in India and abroad and also teaches dance at her Mylapore space, Narthaki learnt dance early and from the classical gurus of Bharatanatyam. Importantly, she saw through some really touch phases in her personal life, stuck to dancing and made a name for herself in recent years.
She was also decorated with the Kalaimamani award by the Tamil Nadu government.
She says equal credit for her work must go to her companion, Shakti Bhaskar.
