Jayanthi Raman is a practitioner, teacher, and choreographer of Bharatha Natyam, a style of classical Indian Dance. She began performing in her childhood, learning from several renowned Gurus of Indian classical dance and started teaching others as a teenager. After she left her native India to move to Portland around 1995, Raman founded the Natya Dance Academy to continue performing and offering opportunities for others to learn the tradition. Raman has given lectures and master classes around the country, and has received many accolades and awards for her performances, and is reputed as a 'cultural treasure', 'world class dancer' and 'scholar' (Oregonian, DANCE Magazine) and as the 'Gold standard of Indian dance in the Northwest'. She was the first recipient in her genre to receive the National Dance Project NDP-NEFA grant and the Regional Arts and Culture Council, Collins Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Council for Humanities and Washington State Arts Commission. Raman was also the recipient of the Oregon Arts Commission's Individual Artist Fellowship award in 2014. Raman is the author of two acclaimed books on Indian dance and was appointed as Assistant Professor of Dance at Portland State University. In Raman's own words, "For Indians, this dance and music is part of our everyday lives, as it is intertwined with the social customs and festivals celebrated." Raman earned a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program award from Oregon Folklife Network in 2015, and in 2016 she was the first Indian choreographer to receive a Creative Heights Grant award (2016-2017) from the Oregon Community Foundation. In May of 2016, she was honored to have served as one of the three grant juror/panelists to the Master/Apprentice Advisory Panel of the Illinois Arts Council Agency.