Nandini Krishna is an accomplished artiste of Bharata Natyam classical Indian dance tradition. Her diverse roles also range into Dance education, Arts Administration and Freelance journalism. She was selected for the Department of Culture, Government of India’s scholarship award for advanced training in Bharata Natyam in 1990. During this time she came under the special guidance of Late Kalaimamani Guru Sri T.K. Mahalingam Pillai, her mentor. Guru Mahalingam Pillai was known for his strict adherence to traditional aesthetics and outlook which enabled Nandini to have a link and an understanding to this great heritage of Bharata Natyam. She was also fortunate to receive guidance from the abhinaya doyenne, Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan in special core workshops at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, (NCPA), Mumbai.
Nandini has performed in India at major national centres such as the National Center for the Performing Arts-(NCPA), Mumbai, both in 1995 and then more lately in 2011. In 1996, she performed for the India International Center, Delhi. Subsequently she performed for the Festival of Dance- Nehru Center-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 program series.
Internationally she has presented her performances across Singapore, Indonesia, Canada, Australia, Malaysia. She is an impaneled 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 Center at Bali, Indonesia. She was additionally thrust the responsibility of the new Center as its 'Program coordinator' for a year and a half to start up and oversee the Center's administration. In this capacity, she created a presence for the Center 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 Center'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 programs 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 Theater, Wesleyan University. The project was a work-in-progress of the University of Arts ( Institute 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.