Malavika Sarukkai

Malavika meeting United States First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1995

Malavika Sarukkai (born 1959) is an Indian classical dancer and choreographer specializing in Bharatanatyam. She is the winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2002). In 2003, she was awarded by the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest Indian civilian award.

Malavika Sarukkai was born in 1959 in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She began learning Bharatanatyam at the age of 7 and trained under Kalyanasundaram Pillai(Tanjavur school) and Rajaratnam (Vazhuvoor School). She also learned abhinaya under Kalanidhi Narayanan and Odissi under renowned gurus, Kelucharan Mohapatra and Ramani Ranjan Jena. She made her debut at the age of 12 at Mumbai and has performed at many places in India and abroad, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at Chicago. Her life and work have been recorded by way of a documentary, Samarpanam, commissioned by the Government of India. She also features in a nine-hour television documentary by BBC/WNET under the title, Dancing. The Unseen Sequence – Exploring Bharatanatyam Through the Art of Malavika Sarukkai is another documentary made on her art which has been screened at the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Mumbai.

Sarukkai was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award by the Government of India in 2002. She is also a recipient of Kalaimamani title from the Government of Tamil Nadu and other awards such as Mrinalini Sarabhai Award, Nrityachoodamani title, Sanskriti award and the Haridas Sammelan award. The Government of India honoured her again, in 2003, with the civilian award of Padma Shri.

• "Malavika Sarukkai: A tribute to Thimmakka". INKTalks. 13 November 2013.
• "Padmashri Malavika Sarukkai Performs Bharatanatyam - Yaksha 2014". Isha Foundation. 21 February 2014.
• "Walk The Talk with Malavika Sarukkai". NDTV. February 2006.