Smt. Chandna (Veturi) Talluri

Chandna holds master’s degrees in Software Engineering and in Kuchipudi, and works as a software professional in California while performing, choreographing, and teaching.

She began Bharatanatyam under the eminent Natyacharya Guru Sri V. S. Ramamoorthy, and started Kuchipudi at the age of four with Guru Nataraja Ramakrishna, continuing for several years under Smt. Uma Rama Rao.

She has performed internationally, and that work has shaped her as both an artist and a teacher. She is a member of CID UNESCO and of KnowYourRoots, through which she works to preserve and promote dance as cultural expression, and she collaborates with local organisations to mentor emerging dancers.

Chitra Natyam, her own innovation, brings dance together with visual art — the dancer marks and draws as she moves, so the performance leaves something behind on the surface as well as in the room.

Nartanaalaya — The Temple of Dance

Chandna is the founder and Artistic Director of Nartanaalaya, established to promote the art of dance. Over the decades she has choreographed and performed numerous pieces and full ballets in India, London, Cambodia, Greece, and across the United States.

Her own account of that journey is one of continuous growth, fed by a love of dance, a commitment to community service, and a belief in the power of dance to inspire and to bring people together.