Natya Dance Theatre (NDT), a critically acclaimed dance company based in Chicago, was founded in 1974 by renowned dancer, choreographer and dance educator Hema Rajagopalan. The highly innovative work of NDT offers profound and subtle expressions of humanitys deepest questions and values in the context of our present-day lives. NDTs contemporary style uses dynamic body movement, rhythmic footwork, hand gestures and facial expressions to convey meaning and emotion to create rasa, the aesthetic experience that transforms the audience. This style is rooted in Bharata Natyam, one of the great classical dance forms of India. NDT has appeared at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC; Lincoln Center in New York; Ravinia Festival; the 2002 Winter Olympic Games; the leading festivals in India; and many other prestigious venues. In 2005, NDT was the first US dance company ever to appear at the prestigious World Music Institute in New York City. The New York Times hailed the performance as Admirably precise animated sensual exceptional triumphant daring. NDT has a history of creative collaborations with such partners as Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The mission of Natya Dance Theatre (NDT) is to preserve and perpetuate Bharata Natyam, a classical dance form of India, in its full classical rigor, move the art form in innovative directions and employ it in the service of cross cultural understanding and social harmony.

Natya accomplishes its mission by means of a performing company that appears at leading venues throughout the world; the Natya Dance Theatre School, which teaches Bharata Natyam to approximately one hundred students ages four-and-a-half to adult; an extensive educational outreach program; and a presenting series that brings the finest Indian performing artists and arts scholars before diverse audiences. Over one thousand students have trained in the NDT School. NDT has received many local, national and international honors and awards. NDT performs before approximately 25,000 audience members each year, through an average 50 performances and other activities. NDTs outreach programs reach thousands of people each year, and are specifically designed to reach underserved communities. For example, since 2002 NDT has maintained a teaching residency with George Rogers Clark Elementary School in the City's economically challenged Austin neighborhood. The NDT outreach program also serves the immigrant community and reaches victims of abuse at a Chicago social service agency.