Teja Kondapalli has had an innate passion for dance since her childhood. She has been dancing since the age of five. After moving to the United States, at the age of 8 Teja began her training in Kuchipudi dance from Smt. Shyamala Karra of Nupur School of Dance. She trained with Nupur for over 8 years and performed her Rangapravesham (solo-dance-debut) on October 31st, 2004.
Following her Rangapravesham she continued her dance training for another 6 years under Smt. Vaidehi Yellai and Smt. Himabindu Challa. Teja has also trained under notable dance teachers from India such as Padmabusans Uma Rama Rao, Raja & Radha Reddy and Vempati Ravi Shankar.
In the past, Teja has performed both in the US and in India. In the Bay Area, she participated in several ballets such as Shiva Ganga, Buddha, Usha Kalyanam, Kumara Sambhavam and Vigneshwara Vaibhavam.
In addition to Indian classical dance, Teja enjoys various forms of dance including hip-hop, ballet, film, folk and latin dance. Teja recently graduated from University of California San Diego, with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering.
She is currently living in Hyderabad, India while participating in the Fulbright program. She intends to use this time to do research in Kuchipudi dance.
