Udupi Laxminarayan, Bharatanatyam guru and choreographer and once a dancer as well, is not as prominent a figure as some of the other senior artists in the field of dance, but this is not for want of merit. He has a low profile partly because he has not bothered to publicise his dance accomplishments in the cinema and partly because he is not adept in the art of projecting himself. Patient probing reveals his considerable achievements as a lead dancer in dancedramas and other group presentations, as a composer of new items and as a pathbreaker or innovator within tradition. Closer to the surface is his guru bhakti, his warm and respectful regard for Kanchipuram Ellappa Mudaliar.