Prayukti Arts · Artistic Director

Nitya
Narasimhan

Bharatanatyam · Sunnyvale, California

"My dance is an extension of who I am. Each lesson that life offers, every experience that touches me — shapes and enriches my art."

About

Nitya Narasimhan is a professional Bharatanatyam dancer whose passion for dance began at the young age of four. Currently based in Sunnyvale, California, she regularly travels to India to hone her craft and present performances and workshops.

As the Founder and Artistic Director of Prayukti Arts, Nitya has built a platform dedicated to fostering South Asian art education and appreciation in the Bay Area. Under Nitya's able leadership, Prayukti Arts has established itself not only as a distinguished space for Indian Arts in the Bay Area, but across the US and as far as India.

Her exposure to diverse movement forms and her unwavering commitment to the classical tradition have shaped an artistic voice that is both deeply rooted and continually evolving. She firmly believes in upholding the traditional values of Bharatanatyam, while acknowledging its rich present and being open to its evolving future.

Recognition

Awards &
Achievements

Natya Ratna

Awarded by the prestigious Trinity Fine Arts Festival for excellence in Bharatanatyam.

ACTA Apprenticeship — Mentor Artist

Selected by the Alliance for California Traditional Arts as a contracted Mentor Artist in their Apprenticeship Program — a statewide recognition reserved for exemplary practitioners entrusted with passing on living cultural traditions to the next generation.

Sunnyvale Mayor's Award

Presented by the City of Sunnyvale for exceptional contribution to the cultural life of the city — one of the highest civic honors bestowed upon an artist in recognition of impact on the community.

Stevie® Bronze Award

Stevie Awards for Women in Business — Bronze Award for Female Entrepreneur for outstanding contribution and leadership in the arts. The Stevie Awards are among the world's premier business award programs.

Lasya Vrindarani

People's Choice Award across India — a title conferred by audiences for outstanding artistry.

Dancers Group CA$H Grant

Awarded for her solo works, supporting the creation and presentation of original choreography.

Stage

Performances

Selected Solo — United States

Yuva Bharati, Bay Area — multiple years
IDIA Dance Festival, Bay Area
Harmony Live Music & Dance Festival, Chicago
HHII Dance Festival, Santa Barbara

Varnam Salon, NYC
We R Dancing, NYC
Natya Utsav, Seattle
San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival

Selected Solo — India

Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai
Brahma Gana Sabha, Chennai
Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Chennai
Kartik Fine Arts / KFA 43rd Art Festival, Chennai
Hamsadhwani, Chennai
Kartik Fine Arts Festival, Naradha Gana Sabha Mini Hall, Chennai
Ananya Nrityotsava, Bengaluru
Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Bengaluru

Diaspora Dance Festival, Chennai
Mysore Articulate Festival, Mysore
Kolar Dance Festival, Kolar
All India Arts & Crafts Festival, Shilparamam, Hyderabad
Natyanjali, Chidambaram & Thanjavur
India Habitat Center, Delhi
LAVA Durga Pooja, Delhi
National Institute of Technology, Trichirapalli

Notable Tours & Productions

Yavanika — a tour performing alongside Smt Priyadarsini Govind, one of India's most celebrated Bharatanatyam artists, across multiple prestigious venues
Life of Pi — Bharata Dance & Allied Arts, performed across multiple US cities
Boys Don't Dance — Bharata Dance & Allied Arts
A Thousand Year Journey — Bharata Dance & Allied Arts

Ganga to Kaveri — Utsav Music, Houston and Bay Area
Gandhi — Abhinaya Dance Company, CA
Broken Seeds Still Grow — Nava Dance Theatre, San Francisco
Turiya — Raadha Kalpa Dance Company, Bangalore
The Dark Lord — Raadha Kalpa Dance Company, Bangalore

Original Works

Solo Productions

Maathe

Premiered 2017 in the Bay Area, Maathe is an ode to Motherhood — a tender exploration of that boundless, transformative bond through the language of Bharatanatyam.

Atmavan

Premiered during the pandemic, Atmavan is a deeply introspective solo exploring the inner self through the concept and idea of Narayana — a meditative journey inward through movement and stillness.

riTi

Presented for Interplay Arts Festival 2024 to live music, riTi is an investigation of the self through the intricacies and nuances of conversations — exploring how we speak, listen, and reflect.

Works on Students

Tamilzh

A choreographed work created and mentored through the ACTA Apprenticeship Scholarship Program, brought to the stage by Charanya Kannan. Tamilzh is a heartfelt homage to the Tamil language and its rich literary tradition — celebrating the depth, beauty, and enduring spirit of one of the world's oldest living languages.

Uma

A choreographed work presented by Suman Chandra, Uma is an exploration of the many facets of the goddess mother — Uma Parvathy — in all her grace, power, and tender divinity.

Watch

Video Gallery

Diaspora Dance Festival

Pongal Dance Festival

We R Dancing

Santa Cruz Dance Festival

Collaborative Works

Ensemble &
Group Productions

Prayukti Collective

Madhuvana

Presented in 2024 by students of Prayukti Arts, Madhuvana is a celebration of Krishna — lush, evocative, and steeped in the devotional imagery of the forest where the divine once danced.

Periyava Pancharatnam

A group work on Kanchi Maha Periyava, presented at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival — a devotional tribute in movement and music.

Vilayattu

A thematic work celebrating childhood games, presented for Vimsati Utsav 2026 organised by Yuva Bharati, Bay Area.

Deflowering

A breakdown of the traditional Alarippu, speaking to women's abuse, oppression, inequality and bias — presented at the Broad Statements Dance Festival, Oakland.

Pooje

Created as part of BASE Residency with Push Dance — a celebration of the Kannada poet Kuvempu and his deep reverence for nature.

Watch →

Bala Kathas

Stories for Children — a series of performances bringing mythological stories and classical themes to life for young audiences through Bharatanatyam.

Pedagogy

Teaching &
Philosophy

Nitya's approach to teaching starts with meeting each student where they are — while holding the rigor, the tradition, and the art form in full respect. The goal is not uniformity but attentiveness: understanding what each student needs and finding the path that leads them there.

At the heart of her teaching is the belief that dance carries an inherent joy — and that her role is to cultivate and share that joy, not just transmit technique. Classes go beyond the physical to explore the cultural depth, historical evolution, and contemporary relevance of Bharatanatyam as a living tradition.

For younger students especially, the studio becomes a space for grounding, focus, and values that reach far beyond the stage — qualities that formal education rarely makes room for. Bharatanatyam, she believes, has always been as much about how you inhabit the world as it is about how you move through it.

Advanced Training & Artistic Guidance

Smt Shweta Prachande, Chennai

Lineage

Smt Shweta Prachande, Chennai

Smt Rukmini Vijayakumar, Raadha Kalpa Dance Company, Bengaluru

Guru Suma Mani, Chennai

Karnataka Lalithakala Academy, Bengaluru

Prayukti Dance Academy

Sunnyvale, CA
Bharatanatyam for all levels, ages 5 and above · since 2017

Academia

Invited
Talks

Nitya presents "The Essence of Indian Arts" — a lecture demonstration that takes audiences deep into the philosophy, history, and embodied practice of Bharatanatyam. It has been presented at some of the most distinguished academic and cultural institutions in the Bay Area.

University of California, Berkeley

Featured speaker presenting The Essence of Indian Arts to academic audiences — exploring Bharatanatyam's history, philosophy, and living practice.

Stanford University — Heritage Dance

Guest performer for Stanford Heritage Dance — a specially curated program on Asian Heritage exploring the impact of dance on mental well-being, providing clinicians and educators with tools for diversity, equity and inclusion in medical education.

Watch: The Essence of Indian Arts — Stanford University

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Community

Community
Outreach

Through Prayukti Arts, Nitya brings Bharatanatyam into community spaces — libraries, wellness centres, and cultural organizations — making the art form accessible to those who may never have encountered it before.