Jathiswara

Guru Mathura Alladi

An accomplished Bharathanatyam dancer and Carnatic vocalist, Mathura Alladi has taught in North Central Florida for more than thirty years.

She began learning Bharathanatyam in her native Madras (now Chennai) under Srimathi Kausalya, a disciple of the famous Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai. The Vazhuvoor school is known for its traditional style and its emphasis on perfect postures and hand expressions derived from ancient sculptures. Mathura mastered the art quickly and gave her arangetram in 1968, at the age of ten.

She has performed at the Krishna Gana Sabha, the Nungambakkam Cultural Academy, the Mylapore Fine Arts Club, Bharat Kalachar and the Max Mueller Bhavan in Madras, and for television in Madras, Delhi and Amritsar. Abroad, she danced at the East-West Center in Honolulu in 1993, and in Tokyo in 1996 for the Indo-Japanese Cultural Society, marking fifty years of India’s independence.

Mathura trained in Carnatic music under the late Mannargudi Sambasiva Bhagavatar and her mother-in-law, Mrs. Lalitha Ramakrishnan. That training makes her one of the few dance teachers who sings and conducts the nattuvangam herself at her students’ arangetrams. She also leads Prarthana, a devotional music group that performs at temples and festivals across Florida.

See Mathura on stage, 1968 to 1998