Thottassery Chinnammu Amma

Thottassery Chinnammu Amma (also spelled as Thottasseri Chinnammu Amma) was a Mohiniyattam dancer and dance teacher from Kerala, India. She was one of the key figures in the revival of this classical dance, which was almost on the verge of extinction in early 20th century. In 1972, she received first ever Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Mohiniyattam.

Biography Thottassery Chinnammu Amma was born in 1900 into a prominent family in Pazhayannur in present-day Thrissur district of Kerala. Under the guidance of Parameshwara Bhagavathar, who was in Swathi Thirunal's Rajya Sabha, Mohiniyattam dance was taught in Nair homes in Palakkad region. Chinnammu Amma was a member of one of this Nair family. She also studied under gurus A. Krishna Panicker of Koratty, near Thrissur and T. Narayanan Nair. When she started performing, Krishna Panicker also accompanied her as Nattuvanar.

Career Chinnammu Amma was one of the key figure in the revival of the classical dance form Mohiniyattam. In the early 20th century, Mohiniyattam, the only women's classical dance in Kerala, was almost on the verge of extinction. When poet Vallathol established Kerala Kalamandalam to revive and preserve performing arts of Kerala, he had difficulty even finding someone to teach Mohiniyattam there. But his attempts to revive Mohiniyattam in 1932 and 1937 were unsuccessful. Seeing this performance, he invited her to teach at Kalamandalam and in 1950, Chinnammu Amma entered there as a Mohiniyattam teacher. Chinnammu Amma and Kalamandalam Sathyabhama, who was a prominent disciple of her, were teachers who worked hard to nurture this art with its traditional purity and without going solely with public taste.