Murugashankari Leo Biography 
Murugashankari Leo is an accomplished Bharatanatyam artist, teacher, theatre actor and research scholar from Tamil Nadu. She is also trained in Carnatic music and Nattuvangam. She runs an institution Kalai Koodam - Academy of Performing Arts in Chennai which teaches Bharatnatyam. She has performed in all major sabhas and prestigious dance festivals all over India and regularly performs in many international concerts. She was honoured with the title 'Naattiya Thilagam' in Selangor, Malaysia. She received Best Performer Award from Parthasarathi Swami Sabha in 2012 and conferred the title narthana Shironmani by Salangai Oli trust, Chennai the same year. Parichay's NATIONAL EXCELLENCY AWARD 2012 by Government of Orissa, "WORLD DANCE DAY PURASKAR" by Natraj Music and Dance academy, Visakhapatnam and Nritya Shiromani by Utkal Yuva Sanskrit Sangh Cuttack are other honours received by her.
She was born in a family of artists. Her father Leo Prabu is a dramatist, Television Personality and a cine actor in Tamil movies and a recipient of Kalaimani award - the highest state award by the government for his overall contributions to theatre. She studied at Adarsh Vidyalaya Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Chennai and later completed Chemical Engineering from Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering.
She started learning Bharatanatyam at the age of 5 from the legendary dance teacher ‘Kalaimamani’ K. J. Sarasa followed by ‘Kalaimamani’ Parvathi Ravi Ghantasala. Though she is an engineering graduate she took dance as her profession. She completed her Masters in Bharatanatyam from the Bharathidasan University and currently she is a research scholar. She is also a stage actor and played lead role in Tamil Drama Neruppu Kolangal which incorporated the classical dance and a song both rendered by Murugashankari.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 22, 2014
