Devayani

Annick Chaymotty, known by the stage name Kumari Devayani, is an Indian dancer who performs in the classical Indian dance style Bharatanatyam. She has performed in India as well as in festivals and concert halls in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, the Scandinavian countries, Estonia, and South Korea. Devayānī is an empanelled artist with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. In 2009, she was awarded the Padma Shri.

Early life Chaymotty became interested in dance as an art form as a young girl, when she saw pictures by the French impressionist painter Edgar Degas in a book. A few years later, at the age of 10, she started attending classical music and dance classes in a Paris conservatory. She studied classical ballet and modern contemporary dance at the Schola Cantorum de Paris. She was noticed by the flamenco dancer Lutys de Luz, a soloist of the Ballet Company of the Marquis de Cuevas, who taught her the Spanish classical dance at Salle Pleyel.

Chaymotty's first encounter with Indian classical music was at a performance by Ravi Shankar. She started taking Bharatanatyam classes, and was awarded an Indo-French Cultural Exchange Programme ICCR scholarship in 1973 to learn Bharatanatyam in India.

1973–1978 In Chennai, Chaymotty learned Bharatanatyam from teachers including Kancheepuram Ellapa Mudaliar, Kalaimamani V.S. Muthuswamy Pillai. Kumari Sawrnamukhi trained her in karanas (sculptural poses), Padma Bushan Kalanidhi Narayanan in abhinaya, and Padma Vibushan Dr. Balamuralikrishna in vocal Carnatic music. At this time she adopted the stage name Devayani.

Devayani was cast in the lead role of the Telugu film America Ammayi directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao,

Special distinctions She was invited by the Arts Council of England as artist-in-residence, to promote Indian dance and culture in 1990, at the Newcastle upon Tyne National Dance Agency.

Devayani performed for the United Nations' Day in New Delhi in 1981, India's Republic Day Celebrations in Germany in 1981, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's Birth Centenary in France, Denmark, and Germany in 1989, a function held to celebrate the Birthday of the Queen of Denmark in New Delhi in 1990, and the 50th Anniversary of India's Independence in Greece in 1998.

Devayani was an active member of the International Dance Council (CID), UNESCO from 2003 to 2007.

In the media Devayani was given a full page coverage in Time and Newsweek in addition to 70 other international magazines for the "Real People" campaign of the Ministry of Tourism of India.

Films of Devayani's performances have been broadcast by the BBC, Tyne Tees Television, ITV (U.K.), Zee T.V., Asianet T.V. (U.K., Europe, U.S.), FR3 (France), Net (Greece), and Indian T.V. Network.