Rajee Narayan Biography 
Rajee Narayan is a dancer, musician, composer, author and teacher from Mumbai, who runs Nritya Geetanjali, a dance school in Mumbai. She serves as the founder director of the organization which trains students in Bharatanatyam, Carnatic music, Nattuvangam and also courses on make-up and hairstyling for Bharatanatyam. Narayan has composed over 200 songs for the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam and has published some of them in her book, Nritya Geetamala in two volumes. She has also authored a few more books related to dance and music. Sangeeta Shartra Mala on Carnatic music and Natya shastra mala on Natya Shastram are other books she published.
Rajee Narayan hails from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Currently she is settled in Mumbai where she runs her dance school. She was born into a big family as the 11th child of S. Narayana Iyer and Gangammal. Many of her family members and siblings are associated with dance and other art forms. Her elder sisters - Neela Balasubramaniam is the founder-director, Nataraja Natya Niketan, while K. Lalitha is the founder-director of Sri Saraswathi Gana Nilayam. Rajee was initiated to the world of dance by her sisters at the age of 5. Before that she recorded a composition in her voice, at the age of 4. Her father worked in HMV company then.
She performed her Bharatanatyam Arangetram when she was 9 years old and in vocal Carnatic music at the age of 14. As a child artist she has acted and sang for a few movies produced by her father. Some of these were Shakti Maya and Bala Bhakti. Unfortunately prints of those movies are not available now. She also released records on story-telling songs for children and some plays. She also participated in dance dramas, cultural events, dance festivals etc. During World War II, she performed for various fund-raising programs, promoted by Clubwala Jadhav. She is affectionately called Rajee Aunty by her students.
Published: September 19, 2018
Updated: September 19, 2018
