Kalamandalam Radhika started dancing at the age of three, under training of Guru Rajan. In her quest to learn the different aspects of dance she learnt mridhangam vaitharis from Guru Ponniah pillai to attain mastery over the techniques of rhythm. She then learnt Kathakali from Muttar Sri. Narayana Panicker to hone her skills and talent. She later specialized in Mohiniattam having studied under the all time Great Gurus like Late Chinnammuamma and Kalamandalam Sathyabhama. She was also under the teaching of Late Kalamandalam Kalyani Kutty Amma for a short period. Her training under Kalamandalam Padmanabha Ashan in kathakali polished her Abhinayam to a great extent.
Kalamandalam Radhika was born in Bangalore to K.K Nair, a chartered accountant. She started learning dancing at the age of three under Guru Rajan, and later learnt Kathakali from Muttar Sri. Narayana Panicker and mridhangamvaitharis from Guru Ponniahpillai. In the late 1960s, she moved to Cheruthuruthy and stayed at the Kalamandalam for four years. Under the wings of Chinnammu Amma, Kalamandalam Sathyabhama and Kalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair she was moulded into a skilled performer. Her tutelage under the late Kalamandalam Kalyani Kutty Amma and her training under Kalamandalam Padmanabha Ashan in Kathakali honed her skills.
Radhika has written numerous articles for the dance and music magazine Shrutilaya and has submitted a paper on Mohiniyattom at a seminar organized by the NCERT on the subject of ‘Dance Education in Schools'. She has also written an article about the Devadasi system of Kerala for the weekly Indu , published from Houston, USA, and is the author of the books 'Mohiniyattom-The Lyrical Dance of Kerala´ and ‘Mudra’ published by Mathrabhoomi.
