While living in India, she was lauded as the Best Dancer of the Year twice and she was named as the Best Dancer of the Year in Bahrain.
PHILADELPHIA, PA, September 14, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Viji Rao has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Ms. Rao has over three decades of experience as a Bharatanatyam dance artist, choreographer, and teacher. Her Bharatanatyam choreographies have been called a "technical tour de force" (Philadelphia Inquirer), "dazzling choreographer"(Dance Journal), "excellent solo opener for Philadelphia Museum of Dance" (Philadelphia Dance Magazine), "best female choreographer in keeping the authentic classical Indian dance Bharatanatyam style for next generation of dancers" (thINKingDANCE) and she has been "hailed as a 'theatrical visionary'" (Philadelphia Inquirer).
Ms. Rao began her training at the age of five, encouraged by her father and first dance teacher, Shiva Rao. She subsequently studied with artists like Alakananda Kishore, Sridhar's, Professor C.V. Chandrasekhar and Bragha Bessell, very eminent artists from the Kalakshetra School of Bharatanatyam, where she found the movement vocabulary that enabled her to explore contemporary themes.
During her eleven years as a professional dancer and choreographer based in the U.K., Ms. Rao worked with Chitraleka Dance Company, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, Moby Duck, and Sampad. She also had the opportunity to work with Canada-based Sampradaya Dance Company (Toronto), and also Arangham Dance Company (Chennai).
In London she trained in contemporary and ballet at the London School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, and aerial and ballroom dancing in the U.S. alongside Indian martial art forms of Chhau and Kalarippayattu. Since 2002, Ms. Rao has been based in Philadelphia, where she founded and serves as the artistic director of Three Aksha, a dance company and educational institution. She has served as artist-in-residence at Girard College since 2008 and has taught Indian culture and aesthetics at Moore College of Art and Design, Temple University, York College, Drexel University and Pennsylvania State University, where she helped organize the incorporation of Bharatanatyam into the undergraduate theater studies program. She is now a professor of Indian dance and aesthetics at Temple University and is curating the All-Indian Dance Festival 2022 at Carnegie Hall. In this role, she hopes to highlight the expressive and rhythmic quality of Indian classical art, and increase appreciation for other forms of art from around the world.
She performs both internationally and nationally in the U.S., where her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Knight Foundation, the Leeway Foundation, Dance Advance, the Philadelphia Folklore Project, Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation, PA Humanities and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Adding to these accomplishments, she has acted in movies, starting with a film produced in India in 2009 and in a lead role for "Colors of Truth." Ms. Rao was honored with the Best Actress Award in 2021 for her performance in two films.
Some of her works include "Layalasya", "Sumukha", "Nava Durga", "KaTha," "Urvi," "UTSAV," "Charya," "Sajeeva," "Saha," "Natyashastra," "Prayog," "Uurja," "Flute to Conch," "Abhika," "Nrityantara," "Civilian Warriar," "How am I not Myself" and "Aniika," to mention a few.
As a result of her prolific career and extensive talents, Ms. Rao has received many accolades. To wit, she was honored with a Transformation Award by the City of Philadelphia and is a six-time recipient of the Master Artist Award from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. In recognition of her dedication as an educator, she was named as a Master Teacher by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. While living in India, she was lauded as the Best Dancer of the Year twice and she was named as the Best Dancer of the Year in Bahrain.
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