Santha Bhaskar

Santha Bhaskar (1939 – 26 February 2022), née Pankyamma Santhamma was a Singaporean dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Born in India, she trained and performed in multiple classical Indian dance forms, including Mohiniyattam, Kathakali and Bharatanatyam. She performed and choreographed a number of well received dance productions in Singapore, and taught dance for several decades at the academy established by her husband as well as the National University of Singapore. Her work is known for incorporating elements of Thai, Chinese, and Malay dance, music, and culture into Indian classical dance. She is the recipient of several awards for her contributions to dance, including the Cultural Medallion, the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Star), the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal), and has been inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.

Early life and education Pankyamma Santhamma was born in Kerala, British Raj, in 1939. As a child she was interested in mathematics and science and did not like dance, but was enrolled in lessons by her father, who thought she had a talent for it. She was taught classical dance, training in multiple traditions, including Mohiniyattam, Kathakali and Bharatanatyam. She studied with notable dancers and choreographers, including Kunchu Kurup, Ramunni Panicker, and Kutralam Ganesam Pillai.

She was enrolled to attend college and study math, science, and accounting, but did not complete her degree, and was instead entered by her parents into an arranged marriage at the age of 15 to K.P. Bhaskar, a classical dance performer who was 14 years older than her. He was already an established dance teacher in Singapore and had returned to India to find a wife who was also a dancer. After her marriage, she moved to Singapore with him, changing her name to Santha Bhaskar.

Career Bhaskar moved to Singapore with her husband, K.P. Bhaskar, in 1956. She also frequently commuted to Malaysia, teaching Bharatanatyam there as well. She also collaborated with ballet dancer Goh Lay Kuan, and Malay dancer Som Said, exchanging techniques and skills in their respective fields.

Other well known works by Bhasker include Manohra, which incorporated elements of Thai and Chinese dance and was performed at the Singapore Arts Festival in 1996, and Rasa & Dhwani, which consisted of choreography based on poems composed by Singaporean poets in all four of Singapore's official languages, and was performed in 2003 at the Esplanade. In 2015, she was commissioned to recreate a Kathakali dance performance that she had previously choreographed and performed in 1954 at Singapore's Victoria Theatre, for the Singapore Arts Festival. In 2021, she choreographed and produced Marabu, a production about Indian migrants to Singapore and particularly sepoys, who worked as soldiers for the East India Company.

Along with her husband, she regularly performed and choreographed dance performances as part of the Aneka Ragam Rakyat, which were multicultural productions staged in Singapore in the 1960s.

From 1977 onward, she taught also Indian dance at the National University of Singapore, establishing a course that she taught for over forty years, and eventually becoming the artistic director and resident choreographer at the NUS Center for the Arts.

Awards and honors During the course of her career, Bhaskar received multiple awards and honors in Singapore, and in 1968, was commemorated on a stamp issued by the Singapore Post Office.