Sankar Lal Sivasankarain Nair

is a kalarippayattu teacher and certified ayurvedic massage therapist born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Sankar started studying the Southern style of kalarippayattu in 1990. His masters have included Tirupuram C. Madhavan (Anjaneya Kalari Sangham), Jayachandran Nair (Kerala School of Martial Arts), Thankappan Assan and Ajith Kumar (Maruthi Marma Chikilsa Kalari Sangham and Ayurveda) and Raja Gopalan Assan (present master). Between 2005 and 2008, Sankar worked with Milón Méla, an Indian theatre group, co-conducting numerous workshops and performing at festivals across India and Europe. In 2008, he moved to Wrocław, Poland. In 2010, he and Justyna Rodzińska-Nair formed Studio Kalari, which works at the Grotowski Institute. Sankar teaches Southern kalarippayattu (regular training sessions in Wrocław as well as workshops in Poland and abroad in countries such as Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and India) and practises ayurvedic therapies and massages. Every year he runs winter training block in his own kalari in Southern India. He collaborates with the Grotowski Institute in the BodyConstitution research programme.