Nalini Prakash

🪔 About

Nalini Prakash is an acclaimed Indian classical Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Her foundational training in Bharatanatyam was under Padmashree Dr. Sudharani Raghupathy at Shree Bharatalaya in Chennai, where she also performed. She had her arangetram at the age of ten. Prakash also received training in music from Padma Shree Madurai N. Krishnan and Prof. S. Ramanathan. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Indian Music, Philosophy, and Culture from Queen Mary's College, Madras, in 1985, and a Master's in Performing Arts (Bharatanatyam) with distinction from M.S. University at Baroda in 1987. Throughout her career, Prakash has performed extensively across India and the United States, gracing stages at authoritative centers, reputed sabhas, the Natyanjali Festival in Chidambaram, and the Museum Theatre for Max Muller Bhavan. She participated in the popular television series "Bharatanjali," which was conducted by her guru, Sudharani Raghupathy. As an advocate for the arts, she was instrumental in establishing and spreading arts education in the Nilgiris region of India, where she founded Silambam, a Bharatanatyam dance school that also served as a branch of Shree Bharatalaya. She also served as the Secretary of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Nilgiris Kendra. Furthering her academic pursuits, Prakash obtained a Master's degree in Dance/Movement Therapy and a PhD in Creative Arts Therapies from Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA. She is also a certified movement analyst. Her work in the United States has focused on integrating Indian dance and creative movement into dance/movement therapy, and she has served as a dance/movement therapist at Saint Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC. Currently, she is an Assistant Clinical Professor and Program Director for Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling at Drexel University. She is also the co-artistic director of Spilling Ink, a Washington, DC-based dance organization. Awards & Honours: Bharatha Kala Bhushana, Government of India Scholarship for Bharatanatyam (1982), Kalamandir scholarship (1986), Award for Vocational Excellence, National Endowment for the Arts in Research Grant (2021), Marian Chace Foundation grant for research (2020), Teck-Kah Lim Graduate Student Domestic Travel Subsidy Award (2019).