Santha Bhaskar
IHFS Excellence Award For Performing Arts
Santha Bhaskar is a graduate of the Chempakassary Arya Kaia Nilayam in Keraia and a student of the late Ramunni Panicker, Guru Kunchu Kurup and Kutralam Ganesan Pillai. Under these highly-regarded exponents, she mastered Kerala Natanam, Mohini Attam, Bharatanatyam and Kathakali. She also holds a diploma in Carnatic Music from the Tamil Nadu Government.
Joining her husband Mr KP Bhaskar in Singapore in 1956, she taught and choreographed at what is now known as Nrityalaya Aesthetics Society, the dedicated teaching wing of Bhaskar’s Arts Academy, In 1977, she started teaching undergraduates at the National University of Singapore’s Centre for Musical Activities (now known as Centre for the Arts), Besides Singapore, she also taught students in Malaysia, commuting fortnightly to places as far away as Lumut, Setiawan and Penang. Under her able guidance, more than 150 students have performed their Arangetrams, each with a repertoire specially designed for him or her.
Santha continued to expand her horizons, studying Chinese and Malay Dance in Singapore, Thai Dance and Music at Chuialongkorn University in Bangkok and Odissi at the Rabindra Bharati University in Koikata. In addition, she trained in Theatre Studies as well. She also has numerous articles on Dance to her name either presented at seminars or published in performing arts magazines.
Over the years, Santha Bhaskar has become synonymous with unique choreographies and concepts. Her curatorial interests lie in exploration and engagement. And with her commitment to the sophistication of traditional Indian dance and her innovative spirit of cross-cultural explorations, her works speak for themselves and continue to raise the bar and push the boundaries, starting with her first full-length dance drama, the Chinese folk tale Butterfly Lovers (1958) which ran sold-out shows for a whole week at Victoria Theatre.
In her quest to work with Asian dance forms, she staged the Thai mythological story Manohra (1996 & 2018}, which infused elements from Thai dance as well as Brihannala (2017) where Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music featured alongside Cambodian dance and music. Her Parinaamam (1993), which was based on the local poem “Sita’s Complaint”, gave audiences a new perspective on the traditional Ramayana. Her works Anweshana – The Search for Nalanda (2011) and 28 (2019) won Production of the Year at the Tan Ean Kiam Arts Awards in the respective years. Her other notable works include Rasa & Dhwani (2003), a repertoire inspired by local poems in different languages; CHAKRA (2012), the first traditional Indian dance production to incorporate sand art; Sambhavna (2016) and Sambhavna 2,0 (2017), works that brought quantum physics to life; as weil as the Da Vinci’s The Vitruvian Man-inspired 28 (2019).
Santha Bhaskar was conferred the Cultural Medallion award in 1990, the highest honour accorded to Arts practitioners in Singapore. She is also the recipient of the 2016 Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Star). In 2021 she was inducted into Singapore Women’s Hal! of Fame and was conferred the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal).