IPAC 2022: Krishnaya Tubhyam Namaha

Kum. MAHATI KANNAN belongs to the fourth generation of the illustrious family of film director K. Subrahmanyam. She is the daughter of well-known Veena Vidwan B. Kannan (musician and composer) and Dr. Gayatri Kannan (musician and dancer). Naturally, she is also the disciple and grandniece of the living legend Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam. She started her formal training in dance at the age of five and had her arangetram when she was 8.

At Nrithyodaya, she completed the Nritya Pravesika, Nritya Visaradha and the Nritya Saali (108 Karanas) courses. These include a firm grounding in practice and theory. She is presently part of the teaching faculty at Nrithyodaya.

Mahati has been accompanying Dr. Padma in her performances in many parts of India and abroad. She has given solo recitals in many prestigious Sabhas. She was privileged to be part of the prestigious Khajuraho Dance festival in February 2014 where she performed bharatanatyam for the first time with the accompaniment of Dhrupad style of music. Mahati was privileged to be chosen to perform for the Music Academy’s Spirit of Youth Festival in 2015. Her performance for the HCL Concert series of the year 2017, conducted by the Music Academy, Chennai, has been judged as the “Best Individual Performance” and she has received the “Outstanding Performer” award for her performance for the Mid-Year Series in 2018 at the Music Academy. She is a recipient of the Yuva Kala Bharati (All-rounder in Dance, Music & Natyasastra studies) award from Bharat Kalachar, for Mahati has also sung for the dance programmes of both her Guru Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam and a few of her disciples. She is a student of Carnatic Music and is a disciple of Dr. S. Sunder and Smt. Vaishnavi Anand.

She has completed her Bachelors' Degree in English Literature from Ethiraj College, Chennai and Masters’ Degree in History of Art at the National Museum Institute, New Delhi. She has also completed BFA & MFA (Bharatanatyam) in Distance Mode at SASTRA University.