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Gayatri
Balagurunathan is a graduate in B.Sc, Zoology
from University of Chennai. Inducted into
dance by her mother and Guru, Smt. Krishnaveni
Lakshmanan, at a tender age of five, she
completed 5 year of a part time course in
Bharathanatyam and veena with distinction
from Kalakshetra Foundation.
Her
arangetram was in 1990 and she married
V. Balagurunathan, a graduate from Kalakshetra
who ispresently at SIFAS, Singapore.She
has had a varied career as a dancer, playing
difefrent roles in dance ballets : as Bharatha
in Abhignana Shakuntalam (Kalakshetra).as
Bala Meenakshi in Meenakshi Vijayam (Kalakshetra).as
Bala Murugan in Murugan Thiru Arul (Kalakshetra).and
as Andal in Andal Charitram (Kalakshetra).
She
has taken part as a lead dancer in dance
features on Annie Besant, Henry Steel Olcott
and Madame Blavatsky,Ahimsasraya Ashoka
and Akbar,produced for the Theosophical
Society, Adyar, Chennai.She has also done
roles like Damayanti(Damayanti Swayamvaram)
and Jaganmohini(Kumbesar Kuravanji) that
were produced by her mother.
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Her
work experience includes choreography of
many dance themes for various shows on themes
like AIDS awareness,Drug Abuse and Pollution,which
have won state awards. She
has also been conducting regular private
classes in Bharathanatyam. Her other interests
include working for animal welfare with
the Blue Cross of India and as a fashion
model.She was crowned Mrs.Chennai 2001,a
show sponsored by GRT Grand Days.
Gayatri
has also worked as a part of the Darpana
Performing Group, run by Ms. Mrinalini and
Ms. Mallika Sarabhai from June 1999 - April
2001.At Darpana, she trained in many folk
dances of India and in Kuchipudi items and
in the basics of Kathakali.She
has been trained in the basics of Kalari
Payattu, a martial art form of Kerala. She
has toured with Darpana to Japan in 1999.
In 2001, in Delhi, she peformed for the
Osho Foundation in the presence of the Prime
Minister, Shri. A. B. Vajpayee, and that
year, in Ahmedabad, in front of the then
US President, Mr. Bill Clinton.
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1994 - Thailand - Kalakshetra.
