Dr Veena Murthy Vijay
At Samanvay 50: performs Satyabhama in Kuchipudi and directs Apsara, the second act of the double bill.
Training and scholarship.
Kuchipudi, Bengaluru. Director, Sri Rajarajeshwari Kalaniketan.
Dr Veena Murthy Vijay trained first in Bharatanatyam, under Smt Venkatalakshamma and Smt Savithri Jagannatha Rao, and then in Kuchipudi under Dr Korada Narasimha Rao, Sri C.R. Acharyulu and Dr Vempati Chinna Satyam.
She holds the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar for the year 2024, conferred by the President of India on 13 August 2026, and the Karnataka Kalashree from the Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy. She was awarded a D.Litt by KSGH University in January 2025, and her scholarship includes the restructuring of twenty new adavu patterns drawing on Karnataka Yakshagana.
She directs Sri Rajarajeshwari Kalaniketan, founded in Bengaluru in 1976 by her father, PNS Murthy, and is the founder of the Samanvay Foundation of Arts. She heads the Department of Performing Arts at MLA College, and has been nominated a Governing Council Member of the Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai, by the Ministry of Culture. She is the author of Therey and Nritya Tarangini.
Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar — conferred by the President of India, 13 August 2026.