Nandini has performed in India at major national centres such as the National Centre for the Perfoming Arts-(NCPA), Mumbai, both in 1995 and then more lately in 2011. In 1996, she performed for the India International Centre, Delhi. Subsequently she performed for the Festival of Dance- Nehru Centre-Mumbai; the Sangeet Natak Akademi’s National Festival of dance (group)-Trivandrum with her alma mater Guru Sri
K. Kayanasundaram, Sur Singar Samsad-Mumbai Kala Ghoda Festival- Mumbai among many others in different parts of the country. She has also been telecast by Bombay television in their cultural programme series.
Internationally she has presented her performances across Singapore, Indonesia, Canada, Australia, Malaysia. She is an empanelled artiste of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Government of India.
In 2005, Nandini was selected for a deputation as Bharata Natyam dancer-teacher, by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, for the newly opened Indian Cultural Centre at Bali, Indonesia. She was additionally thrust the responsibility of the new Centre as its
'Programme Co-ordinator' for a year and a half to start up and oversee the Centre's administration. In this capacity, she created a presence for the Centre in Bali; the unique experience enabling her to hone her abilities at running a cultural Centre on foreign
ground. She trained local Balinese students in Bharata Natyam and presented them in the very first year of the Centre's opening at the International Bali Arts Festival. She performed there for numerous cultural programs and festivals both as solo artiste and in group with Balinese students trained by her in Bharata Natyam; besides collaborative programmes with traditional Balinese dancers.
When she was concluding her tenure there in December 2007, she was invited to be a part of a multi-cultural and theatrical production by Ron Jenkins, Professor of Theatre, Wesleyan University. The project was a work-in-progress of the University of Arts ( Institut Seni Indonesia- Denpasar), Bali. A presentation of Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’, it featured local Balinese dancers, drama artists and musicians.
In 2000, she had the opportunity to work with choreographer Curtis Speck from the University of California. He met Nandini in Mumbai, when he was sourcing artists for his experimental work 'The Dance of Hope'. He was impressed with the collaborative presentation of Nandini with Odissi dance. He invited Nandini and the team, of dancers and musicians, to join his project in Germany. The work entitled –The Dance of Hope, was evolved jointly. It had jazz ballet dancers from the University of California, San Francisco, together with German musicians from the University at Frankfurt. While in Canada, Nandini, co-conceptualised and co-presented, ‘Stir’, for the University of Toronto. It was a multi-media production featuring a video artist and South American musicians. Nandini has also presented collaborative performances in India with Kathak and Odissi dance artistes among others. She was invited by renowned musician-composer Late Padmashri Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao, to feature in the dance ballet ‘Prakriti Nartan’ presented in Mumbai.
* Dance Teaching:
Nandini has a varied experience in teaching dance. She has been a dance educator for the Dhirubhai Ambani International School( IB and IGCSE) where dance was part of the curriculum. She created interesting programs aligning educational concepts with movement, presented for the monthly topical Integration programs.
Prior to this, she was the Head of Dance Department for a local performing arts institution for seven years and presented a number of students in programmes of Bharata Natyam. She was invited to Singapore, by dancer Nirmala Seshadri, for a project of the Singapore Arts
Council, for three years to present lecture-demonstrations, workshops and performances for schools in Singapore. Presently she is Guest Faculty at the University of Mumbai for a ‘Culture Appreciation’ module.
* As Free-lance Journalist:
Nandini’s articles on music and dance have been published in major newspapers- The Times of India, Bombay Times, The Independent, The Daily. Magazines: AV Max and Sruti - a classical music and dance magazine-the first of its kind published from Chennai. She was Sruti’s Mumbai correspondent for three years.
* Screen Performances:
Nandini’s Bharata Natyam sequence has been featured in the award winning and Cannes entry Japanese feature film ‘ Fukai Kawa’ .
Nandini played the lead role in a documentary ‘Sai Shivalaya’, aired on National doordarshan. The film was about the newly constructed replica of the Sai dham (temple) of Puttaparthi built in interior Maharashtra.The project was a dream fulfilled of a builder-devotee . The film was aired on DD Bharati, National television. Nandini was also part of a short ad film directed by Govind Nihalini with
choreography by world-renowned Astad Deboo. Her specially choreographed dance sequence of Bharata Natyam with Balinese
dance was filmed for an episode of 'Indian Imprints', by Dr. S.Krishnaswamy, celebrated director-producer, in Bali, for the Government of India and aired on
DD Bharati .
While in Bali, Nandini initiated a series 'Nritya Darpan' for local television TVRI. This was a special series created, directed and presented by her. This included episodes on the classical dances of India, Adavus and Rhythms, Nayika Bheda, Navarasa using Ramayana episodes in a comparative presentation with local Balinese artist, Hasta mudras , and so on. She was also invited as a special guest
for a special tele-interview for Bali television and for a South Asian talk-show whilst in Canada.
Workshop:
Nandini launched 'ArtFeat' (www.ArtFeat.webs.com) in 2010 and 'Nritya Uphaar'-The Gift of Dance, a unique workshop since 2002, to provide an opportunity to the public at large for a concise experiential understanding of Kathak, Bharata Natyam and Odissi. An article about
the workshop was featured last year in ‘Pulse’ Magazine, UK, for Asian music and dance.
ttp://www.pulseconnects.com/content/NrityaUphaarGiftDance