Attakkalari is led by its artistic director, Jayachandran Palazhy, a contemporary dancer and choreographer of international repute, who has given wings to his creativity in avant garde performances. Driven by a passion to spread the idiom of contemporary dance by training interested young persons, Jayachandran's mission is to make Indian expressions of contemporary reality visible both nationally and internationally, increasing the accessibility of new, creative forms of movement.

Trained in Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Indian folk forms and Kalari martial art in India as well as Contemporary Dance at the London School of Contemporary Dance, he has also learned Ballet, TaiChi, Capoeira and African Dance. Jayachandran has toured extensively in India and internationally as a solo performer. He is also the Artistic Director of Imlata Dance Company ( London ). Apart from choreographing for these organizations, Jayachandran has been working as a freelance choreographer and teacher in different parts of the world .