Bharatanatyam dance guru Uma Sundaram passed away in Chennai on January 24 at the age of 62.

She was the wife of R. M. Sundaram, who was with UCO Bank and was a veteran drama artiste.

Uma learnt Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra and taught dance for 30 years at her school in Mandavelipakkam called 'Nritya Jyothi'.

Her daughter Neela Sukhanya says her mother used to visit Sweden and USA regularly, where she conducted workshops and trained dancers.

In September last year, Uma went to Japan and stayed there for a whole month to train Japanese dancers to put up a dance show.

Neela says, "Amma was a selfless teacher but she was strict and never spared the rod even for me. Our relationship was much more than mother and daughter, guru-sishya. You could say we were soul mates."

Uma leaves behind her husband, Sundaram, daughter Neela and son Karthik.

The family is at 25, West Circular Road, Mandavelipakkam. Phone: 2464 00 97.