Neena Prasad – Acclaimed Mohiniyattam dancer from Kerala

Neena Prasad is a famous classical dancer and dancer choreographer from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Though she has mastered Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi and Kathakali, and regularly performs these classical dance forms on stage, she is best known as an acclaimed Mohiniyattam dancer of present times. She is lucky to learn different art forms some of the legends like Vembayam Appukuttan Pillai, Vempatti China Satyam, Adyar K. Lakshman, Kalamandalam Kshemavathy etc.

She received training from art legends

Neena Prasad was born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Since young she learnt different dance forms from different gurus. Kathakali from Vembayam Appukuttan Pillai for 10 years, Kuchipudi from Vempatti China Satyam for 12 years, Bharatanatyam from Adyar K. Lakshman for 11 years, Mohiniyattam from Kalamandalam Kshemavathy and Kalamandalam Sugandhi for 3 and 8 years respectively helped her to gain enough expertise in dance field.

In 1998 she performed at Soorya festival, Thiruvananthapuram for the first time and since then she is regular in performances. She also choreographs her art forms, based on her research works. She is the founder-head of two dance schools – Bharthanjali Academy of Indian Dances in Thiruvanthapuram and Sougandika Centre for Mohiniyattam in Chennai.

Her distinctive style and approach make her different from her contemporaries. In association with her guru and mentor Kalamandalam Sugandhi, she made a vocabulary that has 116 adavus and 18 charis spread across 17 strategically categorized groups. She has planned to document her work.

Dr. Neena Prasad – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. She completed Master’s in English literature and later received PhD from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. She also did post-doctorate from London.

2. Apart from 4 dance forms, she is also trained in percussion Mridangam.

3. She is trained in both styles of Mohiniyattam, which own distinct sets of rules, contradictory to one another.

4. She was married to politician and advocate Sunil. C. Kurian. He passed away exactly one week after the couple celebrated their 11^th wedding anniversary.

5. She was a Kalathilakam while doing graduation at Thiruvananthapuram University College. She received awards at college from her future husband Sunil, who was her senior and union chairman then. When both were captured in a camera, her friends later made fun of them because of height difference. They were not in love then.

6. While studying at college she was not in love with Sunil. They realized their love only after college days, and years later got married. Sunil was a divorcee and father of a son, when Sunil’s father took initiative for their marriage against her parents’ wish. Later her parents approved her marriage. They had exchanged love letters when they were in love.

7. Sunil’s liver disease was diagnosed two years after marriage. He was serving as the chairman of Kerala factor of Red Cross Society that time (when Ammathottil was started in the state). Doctors told, he won’t survive after 6 months. But he lived for 8 years more.

8. In 2022 March, Palakkad district judge Kalam Pasha stoked a controversy after he stopped her performing in a school in Palakkad. He claimed that her performance in a nuisance. She and her team were humiliated in the stage, where they were to perform an act ‘Sakhyam’ portraying strained relation between Krishna and Arjuna. She completed her performance when police disrupted and then called off the rest schedule.