On November 23, 2025, Kamala transitioned into another realm, far away from the earthly plane, her ethereal form ascending into the vastness beyond time, her ankle bells jingling softly in the cosmic skies. “When I dance, I find freedom…” she once explained to this writer, her voice trailing away as she inwardly seemed to savour that feeling.

In her more than seven decades of expressing her idiom, both in films and onstage, Kamala charmed with her grace and verve, and chiselled rhythms with her feet, turning a once arcane rite of temples and courts, into a classical art with popular appeal. As the leading proponent of the ornate Vazhuvoor bani, Kamala presented bharatanatyam, as it evolved with her performance repertoire, into a refined, perfectly choreographed oeuvre, both visually and aesthetically sophisticated, and thematically rich and varied. Her performances at Chennai’s sabhas, particularly at the prestigious Music Academy, since the age of 14, as well as in venues all over the world, became memorable for their elevated and unique artistic content.

Reminiscing on her long collaboration with Kamala since 1967, until the iconic dancer moved to the U.S., 79-year old Carnatic music vocalist, S. Rajeswari, attributed her early career success as a singer, to her association with Kamala and their successful professional partnership, with a special chemistry as dancer and singer. Rajeswari recalled that much of what Kamala presented in her programs was not always scripted by arduous hours of rehearsals, but often came together spontaneously on stage. Kamala would let Rajeswari freely express a varnam or kriti with neravals, while emoting it in dance through her manobhavam -  all the while in a state of complete focus, as if it were a form of communing with the divine.

Rajeswari recalled the very first time the Charukesi pada varnam, Innum en manam, composed expressly at Kamala’s request, by the legendary violinist, Lalgudi Jayaraman, was presented by the celebrated artist on stage, with the vocal rendition by the singer, at Krishna Gana Sabha. The fervour of the song by Rajeswari, and the beseechment to Lord Krishna, performed through dance by Kamala, were so moving that the composer, Lalgudi Jayaraman, went backstage during the interval and expressed high praise for a truly stirring rendition of his composition by the celebrated duo. Rajeswari recalled that Kamala, would invariably and graciously, attribute the success of her dance presentations to the vocal accompaniment: “Ava paatu daan enna aada vechidu…” (it was her singing that inspired my dancing). Rajeswari expressed a personal sense of loss over Kamala’s passing, adding,” She loved my music. Even in her heart, she had given me a special place.”  

Kamala was born on June 16, 1934, in Mayuram, Tamil Nadu. Her career in dance began as a child, with her early training in Kathak, when she lived in Bombay, with her family. Kamala attributed her successful dance career mainly to the nurturing and support of her mother, Rajam. Her precocious sense of rhythm, movement, and abhinaya, were noticed by the Bombay film world’s dance directors and music directors of the time, like Shankar Rao Vyas. As a child artist, Kamala danced in scores of Hindi films in the 1940s, most notably, Ram rajya, released in 1943.. The song, O rani maharani in which she performed the role of a young court dancer with charm and elan, endeared her to the public. During the Second World war, Kamala and her family moved south to Mayuram, where she began her training in bharatanatyam, initially with the elderly guru, Kattumannar Kovil Muthukumara Pillai, who in turn, referred her to Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai. With the latter having choreographed many of her bharatanatyam dances in films, the young Kamala emerged as the leading disciple of the Vazhuvoor tradition. Her performances as a child star, in several Tamil films, most notably, Naam Iruvar, released in 1947, where she danced to patriotic songs that included, Gandhi mahan, and Kottu morasae, established Kamala as an undisputed favourite child star. Other popular songs starring Kamala as a child artist in the 1940s and 50s include, her iconic snake dance, Naadar mudi mel irukkum from Digambara samiyar, and the song Theerada vilayattu pillai, composed by Subramania Bharati and sung by D.K Pattamal, from the film, Vethala ulagam, in which Kamala performed as both Krishna and Radha.

As an older artist, Kamala, added to her repertoire of dance presentations both onstage and in films, particularly in Konjum salangai. Along with her siblings, Rhadha and Vasanthi, she performed dances in many films and stage programs. Kamala averred to this writer that it was she who mentored and trained her two siblings for their performances.

In 1968, Kamala was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi award and the Padma Bhushan in 1970. The legendary artist has received many more accolades from many institutions and cultural organizations in India, that include the very first E. Krishna Iyer award in 1989 by Sruti magazine and the Platinum Jubilee Award from the Music Academy in 2001.

Kamala's father, Ramamurthy, was a paternal cousin of the legendary Carnatic music composer and artist, G.N. Balasubramaiam (GNB). Accounts by the family of a maternal cousin of Ramamurthy, seem to bear out descriptions of his financial struggle to provide for his family, though he was believed to have promoted Kamala’s early career in dance, both in Bombay and later in the south, up until her role in Naam Iruvar. His financial struggles persisted, causing his estrangement from his family, particularly after he left them in the care of the family of Kamala’s mother, Rajam. The weight of the responsibility for supporting her family fell on Kamala’s young shoulders. The impact of this on the psyche of the adolescent Kamala, cannot be understated. Later, it is believed that Ramamurthy sought a reconciliation with his family, but the situation was already irredeemable.

Around the mid-1970s, Kamala began working with Professor William Skelton, Director of the India Study Group and Emeritus Professor in the Department of Music at Colgate University, in New York. Kamala trained a group of American students from Colgate University in bharatanatyam. They presented two bharatanatyam dance ballets, that included, Prahlada bhakti vijayam, a composition by saint Tyagaraja, and Azhagar kuravanji, an opus by Kavi Kunjara Bharati. Both productions garnered wide acclaim and paved the way for Kamala’s teaching position at Colgate University for the spring semester in 1975.

In 1979, Kamala moved to the U.S. and set up her dance school, Sree Bharata Kamalalaya, in 1980, in Long Island, New York, where she trained mostly Indian American students in bharatanatyam in the New York and New Jersey area, for over 25 years. Between 1999-2003, Kamala was an adjunct professor at the Center for India Studies at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Stonybrook, New York. In the 1980s, she collaborated with Sanskrit scholar, Professor Jayaraman, who was associated with the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in New York City, in presenting the Ramayana with her dance students, at the prestigious Madison Square Garden theater.

Kamala received several accolades in the U.S. that included the Sangeetha Sagara award by the Carnatic Music Association of North America (CMANA) in 2004. In 2010, Kamala was the first bharatanatyam artist to be awarded the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) National Heritage Fellowship. She also received the Nrithya Ratnakara award from the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana Committee in 2011. 

When asked about her reason for the move to the U.S., Kamala’s laconic answer was “the support was not there” in India. She had attained the pinnacle of success and recognition in bharatanatyam and had become its icon and cultural ambassador in India, having performed before visiting dignitaries, including Queen Elizabeth and former U.S. President Eisenhower, yet chose to start all over again in the U.S. as a dance guru and artiste. Perhaps Kamala deservedly felt the need for greater recognition as a trailblazing artist, on par with other legends in the Indian classical arts. In the U.S., Kamala entered the fray with younger generations of dancers and teachers, many of whom were once inspired by her. While programs and performance opportunities once filled her calendar in India, she was in a new environment, where she felt handicapped by the requirement of having to write grant requests and filling up forms to art and cultural organizations. Living in the U.S., Kamala expressed frustration, to this writer, over her constant struggle, that a very senior artist like her, should not have had to endure. Yet her effort and determination as a dance guru were unflagging, as was her work ethic. She was always a stickler for punctuality, beginning her day at dawn and driving tens of miles, even on wintry roads, to her classes in Long Island, and Westchester County, in New York, as well as to New Jersey. Her dedication to an art that she gave more than seven decades of her life, was as unwavering as her faith in the divine.

Living with her son, Jain and Narayan and her daughter in law, Shanthi, in the Bay Area of California, during the twilight of her life, at the age of over 91, Kamala was beckoned by the divine melody of the flute, into a lokam, where she has found her freedom…