Viji Rao, has over a decade of experience as a Bharatanatyam dance artist, choreographer, and teacher. Her Bharatanatyam choreographies have been called a “technical tour de force” (Philadelphia Inquirer, July 2011) and she has been "hailed as a "theatrical visionary" (Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan 2010). Rao began her training at the age of five, encouraged by her father and first dance teacher, Shiva Rao. She subsequently studied with Dr. Alakananda Kishore and renowned couple dance artists The Shridhar’s from Bangalore.

Viji has also worked with Prof. C.V.Chandrasekhar, Kalanidhi Narayanan, Bragaha Bissel to mention a few, where she found the movement vocabulary that enabled her to explore contemporary themes. During her eleven years as a professional dancer and choreographer based in the U.K., Rao worked with Chitraleka Dance Company, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, Moby Duck, Sampad, Sampradaya Dance Company (Toronto), and Arangham Dance Company (Chennai)

In London she also trained in traditional Indian martial arts forms, aerial and ballroom dancing, and contemporary dance at the London School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance.

Since 2002, Rao has been based in Philadelphia, where she founded and serves as the artistic director of Three Aksha, a dance company and educational institution. She has served as artist-in-residence at Girard College since 2008 and has taught Indian culture and aesthetics at Moore College of Art and Design, Temple University, York College, and Penn State University, where she helped organize the incorporation of Bharatanatyam into the undergraduate theater studies program. She performs both internationally and in Philadelphia, where her work has been supported by The Leeway Foundation, Dance Advance, the Philadelphia Folklore Project, and the Philadelphia Council on the Arts.