Mythili Kumar Biography 
Mythili Kumar is an Indian classical dancer who performs in Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Odissi. She is a performer, renowned guru as well as a successful choreographer, who is currently based in California. Currently she serves as a lecturer in dance at University of California, Santa Cruz, and also owns a dance school named Abhinaya Dance Company. Through this dance school she teaches numerous students and her students give live performances at different art platforms and cultural events, based on her choreographed dance numbers. She is the founder Director of Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose since 1980.
Mythili Kumar hails from India. She performed extensively in India before moving to the U.S. in 1978. Two years later she started Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose, and since then has trained hundreds of students. More than a hundred students have given solo performances under her guidance too. She has also collaborated with other artists for performances globally. Currently a teacher at University of California, Santa Cruz, she has also taught at San Jose State University and Stanford University. She teaches a fall semester course at University of California at Santa Cruz.
While at US, her artistic talents have been recognized and she has been awarded several Choreographer Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. She has been honoured with ‘Abhinaya Kala Ratna’ by Shiva Vishnu Temple of Livermore in 2002, and ‘Viswa Kala Bharati’ by Bharath Kalachar in Chennai. She is also a recipient of 2015 Legacy Laureate Award from SV Creates for her sustained dedication to dance. She is married and both her daughters are following her legacy. They are also a part of her dance school, and associated with art forms since the age of 4.
Published: November 07, 2018
Updated: November 07, 2018
