Jyothi Chintalapudi started her dance career at the age of 5. She was trained under Vempati Nageswari for 7 yrs, and was fortunate to get trained for 20+ yrs under the legendery Guru, Padmasree Dr.Sobha Naidu. Besides being an approved ‘A’ grade artist in Doordarshan, she won several awards from major organizations and was conferred with title “Natyamayuri” at a very young age.  She Successfully completed her 4 yr. diploma in Natya Sastra(theory of dance) and received “Natya Visharada” title, in 1992. She graduated as Masters in Kuchipudi, from University of Silicon Andhra, in Jan 2019. 

She extensively toured in India, UK and USA with her guru Padmasree Dr. Sobha Naidu, as a solo artist and played lead roles in various dance dramas like Sri Krishna Parijatam, Kalyana Srinivasam, Chandalika, Bhama Kalapam, Sri Krishna Saranam mama, Sita Kalyanam, Kumara Sambhavam, Navarasa Natabhamini and more.

Jyothi moved to USA in 1995 and established “Natya Jyothi Kuchipudi Dance Academy”. She trained several students in Rochester (NY), Southfield (MI), and currently training students in person in Atlanta (GA) and online to students in Nebraska and Ohio. Natya Jyothi Omaha branch is run by her senior disciple. she has many solo and thematic productions choreographies, to her credit. As part of the 25^th Anniversary celebrations she made efforts to Revive Yakshaganam in collaboration with Vedantam Venkata Chalapathi and presented Usha Parinayam for the very first time in Atlanta.

Apart from being a performer and dance instructor, jyothi also served several local Indian/telugu associations and HTA as a cultural chair. She was fortunate to be the prime coordinator for all 5 international kuchipudi dance conventions of Silicon Andhra, attended by 10,000 delegates from 15+ countries. She is currently serving as Vice President of Silicon Andhra, and Core Team member in developing Kuchipudi village. She is Trustee Board member of 200+ multi-specialty Sanjivani Hospital in Kuchipudi Village, which provides affordable care to 500,000 villagers in and around historic Kuchipudi village. She leads a National Youth club “Future Young Leaders for Humanity (FYLH)”, who passionately give back to Humanitarian cause in India. She is also Director of Student Outreach in University of Silicon Andhra.

As an academician knowing the glorious history of Kuchipudi and its origin from Yakshaganam, Jyothi felt the need and responsibility to keep Ykahsaganas alive and took up the initiative to revive them in 2022. With this background, Jyothi aspires to carry her guru’s grand legacy and strives to pass on our rich dance form to next generation.