Kapila Venu is a practitioner of Kutiyattam, one of the oldest living theatre traditions in the world, from Kerala, India. She is a disciple of the legendary Kutiyattam maestro Guru Ammannur Madhava Chakyar and the renowned exponents Guru G Venu and Guru Usha Nangiar. She is also a practitioner of Mohiniyattam dance, which she learned from her mother Guru Nirmala Paniker. For more than two decades, she has travelled the world performing, teaching, and giving workshops on Kutiyattam. She has studied with renowned Japanese avant-garde dancer Min Tanaka and has performed in two of his choreographies, – Rite of the Forest (2005) and Thottangal (2007).

She has also collaborated with internationally recognised artists and scholars such as Dr. Eberhard Fischer, Peter Oskarson, and Wally Cardona. She is a guest lecturer at the National School of Drama in New Delhi and a Master Teacher at the Intercultural Theatre Institute in Singapore. A film on the life and work of Kapila Venu, titled “Kapila”, directed by Sanju Surendran, won the National Award for Best Cultural Film at the 62nd National Film Awards of the Government of India in 2014. Kapila was awarded the highest honour for young artists by the Government of India – the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, the Kumar Gandharva Samman of the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the Sanskriti Award of the Sanskriti Pratisthan.