Shrimati Kodhai Narayanan began her dancing career at the tender age of four under the watchful yet delighted eyes of her late father Shri Gopalan Iyengar. Her early dancing years were spent under the tutelage of such great gurus as late Shri Kuppiah Pillai, guru Shri Kalyana Sundaram and guru Shri Nagarajan at the ShriRajarajeshwari Bharatha Natya Kala Mandir. Her Arangetram too was performed under the auspices of this esteemed organization. 

Later she went onto graduate in Fine Arts (Bharata Natyam) from the Nalanda Nritya Kala Maha Vidyalaya in Mumbai. Under the tutelage of late Guru K J Govindarajan, she further perfected this art. 

Despite her busy schedule down the years as a house wife, mother and University student with an M.A(History)and a B.Ed degree to her name, she has always found time to imbibe and grow the limitless traditions this art form has to offer. To her this is a humble reverence to her father’s spirit.  

Origins  

In 1988 she started imparting this cherished art to a handful of students. Her love for this dance form and her dedication to see it being shared with more and more children saw the number of her students steadily rise. 

 A few years down the line, she decided to name her now established dance school as   “Nritya Arpana”. Her indomitable spirit driven by a passion for purity has ensured the best traditions that this art form is celebrated for are imparted, understood and cherished.  

Lessons are imparted just the way they have been down the centuries with each student being given the attention and consideration due to them. Each lesson comprises both theoretical and practical aspects of the dance and students are gently graduated from the very basic steps all the way to performing a complete solo recital. Several students have earned scholarship, accolades and individual mastery in terms of having their “arangetrams”. 

 Coaching Experience  

Guru Kodhai Narayanan has carved a niche for herself in terms of originality and creative expression and has in turn inspired all her students and helped them grow their innate confidence while motivating them to achieve the highest standards in dance. 

Certain unique features stand out as far as Nritya Arpana’s teaching and dance style are concerned. 

Firstly, through sheer dedication and devotion, Guru Kodhai Narayanan has been able to inculcate creativity, expression and originality in extremely young pupils. At an age when most children are playful and lacking in concentration, pupils as young as five years old have been engaged and initiated into the nuances of this difficult art form. Bharatanatyam is one of the most alluring and captivating dance forms and the school has been able to tap a child’s spontaneous urge to dance in sheer joy and shape this natural ecstasy using the foundations and framework of this ancient dance. It is indeed creditable that the guru has been able to recognize and harness this potential and mould the same in order to achieve the highest levels of excellence in ones so young. 

Secondly, Guru Kodhai Narayanan has been able to bring devotional pieces from the different corners of India and give them suitable expression with Bharatanatyam. In myriad different languages from Bengali to Malayalam and venerating a host of different subjects from Mother India, gods and goddesses all the way to our holy texts, she has deftly choreographed pieces to suit different cultures and audiences. With the ethos of Bharatanatyam at the core, each such recital celebrating unity in diversity has made for a scintillating performance. 

Thirdly, Guru Kodhai Narayanan has always maintained that her Nritya Arpana is not a dance school alone but a institute of cultural learning where the age old traditions of the Guru-Shishya Parampara are carefully nurtured and passed on to the next generation of aspiring dancers by the Guru herself.