Viji Rao

🪔 About

Viji Rao is an internationally acclaimed Bharatanatyam dance artist, choreographer, educator, and curator with over three decades of experience. Based in Philadelphia since 2002, she is dedicated to preserving, promoting, and evolving the classical South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam in the West. Her performances have been hailed as a "technical tour de force" and she is recognized as a "theatrical visionary" in the world of Indian classical dance. Rao began her training at the age of five with her father, Shiva Rao. She subsequently studied with eminent artists from the Kalakshetra School of Bharatanatyam, including Alakananda Kishore, Sridhar's, Professor C.V. Chandrasekhar, and Bragha Bessell, where she found the movement vocabulary to explore contemporary themes. Her artistry focuses on bodily expression and storytelling, blending traditional techniques with contemporary themes. She also incorporates body conditioning from Indian martial art forms like Chhau and Kalaripayattu, and has trained in contemporary and ballet at the London School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, as well as aerial and ballroom dancing. As an educator, she has trained many young minds in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and India for over three decades. Rao is the founder and artistic director of Three Aksha, a dance company and educational institution in Philadelphia, established in 2002 or 2003. She has served as artist-in-residence at Girard College since 2008 and has taught Indian culture and aesthetics at prestigious institutions including Temple University, Bryn Mawr College, Drexel University, Penn State University, Moore College of Art and Design, and York College. Since 2022, she has been curating the All-Indian Dance Festival at Carnegie Hall. Awards & Honours: Transformation Award, Master Artist Award, Master Teacher, Best Dancer of the Year, Best Dancer of the Year, Best Actress Award (2021), Leeway Transformation Award (2011), Art and Change Grant (2016), Art and Change Grant (2008).