**T. SANKARAN** Kandappa Anna - ‘Elder Brother Kandappa’ was Bala- Saraswati’s teacher and also the conductor of her dance recitals for many years. He was the son of Nellaiyappa Nattuvanar (1850-1905) and a descendant, through the female line, of Tanjavur Chinniah, the eldest of the immortal Tanjavur Quartet. Nellaiyappa migrated to Madras city where he trained a number of pupils, Mylapore Gowri Amma and Jayammal - Bala’s mother among them, to perform Kolattam or stick-dance using Chinniah’s javalis. He also helped expand the repertoire of Dhanammal’s family, adding to it many popular javalis; *Vanipondu* (Kanada), *Yela Radayane* (Bhairavi), *Chanaro ee Mohamu* (Khamas) are his gifts. He was very closely associated with Dhanammal as well as composer-musicians like Muthialpet Tyagier and Fiddle Ponnuswami PilIai.