Born on 21 March 1927 in a family of illustrious Bharatanatyam gurus at Pandanallur
village in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, Shri S. Swaminathan received his training
in the Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam under his grandfather S. Meenakshi
Sundaram Pillai. He gained wide repute as a nattuvanar and teacher of Bharatanatyam
in the early 1960s.
Shri Swaminathan travelled extensively within the country to impart training to
students at Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, and Delhi, and also conducted their recitals
at prestigious dance festivals within and outside the country. He inherited a vast
corpus of traditional dance compositions from his family and shared it with wellknown
dancers including Indrani Rehman, Sonal Mansingh, Leela Samson, Sujata
Dinesh, and Nalini Balakrishnan. He established his own institution, Meenakshi
Sundaram Natiya Kala Nilayam, in Thanjavur and there he continues to groom young
dancers.
Shri S. Swaminathan receives the Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Award for his
contribution to Bharatanatyam.