Samson will have a term of five years in office. She fills the post that had been lying vacant since the demise of incumbent Ram Niwas Mirdha.
SNA vice-president and leading theatre director Ratan Thiyam of Manipur had been holding the charge of the chairperson’s office since Mirdha’s death in January this year.
Samson, who is presently director of Kalakshetra Foundation is known for her choreography of group and solo compositions in Bharatnatyam.
Author of a book titled “Rhythm in Joy”, Samson has received many honours, including the Padmashri and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
The appointment came on a day which saw the presentation of the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar of the Akademi for the year 2009 to 33 young artistes who have made a mark in their respective fields of performing arts.
Among the awardees in the field of music are Omkar Shrikant Dadarkar for Hindustani vocal, Murad Ali (Sarangi) and Sanjeev Shankar & Ashwani Shankar (Shehnai) for Hindustani instrumental, C S Sajeev for Carnatic vocal, Mysore A Chandan Kumar (Flute) and Trivandrum V Balaji (Mridangam) for Carnatic instrumental, Anil Srinivasan for creative and experimental music and Moirangthem Meina Singh (Nata Sankirtana of Manipur) for other major traditions of music.
In the field of dance, those awarded were Ragini Chander Shekar (Bharatanatyam), Monisa Nayak (Kathak), Hanglem Indu Devi (Manipuri), Chinta Ravi Balakrishna (Kuchipudi), Lingaraj Pradhan (Odissi), Menaka P P Bora (Sattriya), Manjula B Murthy (Mohiniattam) and Swamimalai K Suresh (music for dance).