Odissi dancer Nayantara Nanda Kumar is a disciple of Guru Jyoti Rout and Guru Swati Mahalakshmi. She has performed at the Konark Dance and Music Festival, Auroville Annual Festival, National Festival, International Festival, Chausath Yogini Festival and Karavela Festival in Bhubaneswar, Puri Beach Festival, the Ethnic Dance Festival in San Francisco, Santa Cruz Festival, and in Taos, New Mexico, Boston and extensively in the San Francisco Bay Area. Also, Salar Jung Museum, MCEME, EFLU, National Geophysical Research Institute, Ravindra Bharathi.
She has also performed at fundraisers for Non-violent Peace Force at Santa Cruz, Asha for Education in Berkeley, Tibetan Medical College in Richmond, Chaparral House for the Aged Berkeley, Tamil Refugee Fundraiser in the South Bay, Ruchika for Street Children, Alzheimers Walk in Treasure Island, Nritya Shila on the Shamirpet Hill for Society to Save Rocks, for Prajwala and the US Consulate about trafficking.
Nayantara is Founder & Director, Our Sacred Space, Secunderabad, which started in 2012 and the Dharur campus in 2017. At the OSS Secunderabad campus, classes in Classical Dances, Music, Folk Dances, Yoga, Martial Arts, Languages, Art and Craft are taught by experts. At OSS, they curate workshops, performances, and exhibitions, and host the farmer and artisan market – Adivaram Angadi.
With 14 years of experience in the engineering and construction industry (1998 to 2012), Nayantara has provided engineering and project management services on large infrastructure projects including bridges and other highway structures for the California Department of Transportation; light rail; dams and reservoirs; water and wastewater treatment facilities; and tunnels and pipelines. She has also worked on hazardous assignments such as tunnel and bridge construction.