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Rathna Kumar is the recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the year 2010, awarded by the Government of India. This is the most prestigious honor in the field of performing arts, given to nationally and internationally reputed artists in recognition of their outstanding contribution and service to Indian dance, music and theater. The Akademi Awards, since their inception in 1952, symbolize the highest standard of excellence and achievements on a national basis, and also recognize sustained individual work and contribution to the practice and appreciation of the arts through performance, teaching and scholarship. This is an official recognition that comes from India’s national academy for music, dance and drama, and this is the very first time that an artist from outside India has won such recognition, and the Houston community and many admirers all around the world are rejoicing in Rathna Kumar’s latest achievement.
A recipient of numerous Individual Artist Grants for Choreography, Rathna is also the winner of many other awards and titles, both in India and the US:
- 2020 – Lifetime Achievement Award (Sathyaanjali Academy of Kuchipudi Dance, Kochy, India)
- 2018 – Lifetime Achievement Award (Soorya Performing Arts, St. Louis, MO)
- 2016 – Madhura Kalamani Award for service to Bharatanatyam (Karthik Fine Arts, Chennai)
- 2016 – Lifetime Achievement Award (Telugu Cultural Association, Houston)
- 2014 – Lifetime Achievement Award (Gutti Sreenivas Trust & The Pittsburgh Foundation, Pittsburgh, PA)
- 2014 – Outstanding Community Service (Sri Meenakshi Temple Society)
- 2012 – Lifetime Achievement Award (Asian Pacific American Heritage Association
- 2011 – Govt. of India’s Sangeeta Natak Akademi Award for Excellence in Kuchipudi Classical Dance
- 2010 – Community Service Award (India Culture Center, Houston
- 2008 – Certificate for Volunteerism (President George W. Bush)
- 2008 – Certificate for Volunteerism (Governor Rick Perry
- 2008 – Certificate of Appreciation (Mayor Bill White, Houston, TX)
- 2008 – Asian Legacy Award (Houston Community College)
- 2007 – Invited speaker and panelist, UNESCO’s World Summit on Creativity in Arts Education (Hong Kong)
- 2006 – Invited Speaker, “Culture & Diaspora” (Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Hyderabad, India)
- 2006 – Honorary Doctorate in Performing Arts (Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, Hyderabad)
- 2006 – George W. Bush Award for Community Service (Asian American Pacific Heritage Association, Houston, TX)
- 2006 Invited speaker, UNESCO’s First International Conference on Arts Education (Lisbon, Portugal)
- 2005 – Nritya Seva Mani Award (Cleveland, OH, Thyagaraja Festival)
- 2005 – Proclamation from Mayor of Sugar Land and recognition in Town Hall
- 2004 Invited participant at UNESCO’s World Conference on Dance (Ionina, Greece)
- 2003 – Outstanding Community Service (South Asian Chamber of Commerce)
- 2002 – Certificate of Appreciation (Rick Perry, Governor of Texas)
- 2002 – Nomination to the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame
- 2001 Best Performance of the Season (Music Academy’s Annual Dance & Music Festival, Chennai, India)
- 2001 Outstanding Teacher Award (National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, Florida)
- 2001 – Congressional Recognition
- 2000 – Outstanding Community Service Award (Metropolitan Transit Authority, City of Houston, Texas)
- 2000 – Apple Award, for Outstanding Contribution to Arts in Education (Texas Institute for Arts in Education, Houston, TX)
- 1999 – Viswa Kala Bharathi (Bharat Kalachar, Chennai, India)
- 1998 Kala Vipanchee (MBK Cultural Trust, Chennai, India)
- 1995 – Outstanding Community Service Award (India Culture Center, Houston, TX)
- 1992 – Fellowship for Dance (Natya Academy, Hyderabad, India)
- 1988 – Vedantam Jagannadha Sarma Award for Kuchipudi (Vamsee Arts Foundation, Hyderabad)
- 1985 – Outstanding Service to the Arts – TANA (Telugu Association of North America, Los Angeles, CA)
- 1983 – Outstanding Service to the Community (City of Bellaire, TX)
- 1981 – Outstanding Community Service Award (Mayor, City of Houston)
- 1978 – Outstanding Community Service Award (Mayor, City of Houston)
- 1972 – Singar Mani – Sur Singar Samsad (Mumbai, India)
- 1971 – Natyakala Praveena (Telugu Association, Calcutta)
- 1970 – Best Dancer of the Year – UNESCO Manram, Chennai, India
- 1968 – Scholarship for Kuchipudi (Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi)
- 1967 – Natya Visharada (Kuchipudi Art Academy, Chennai, India)