Kumudini Lakhia is an Indian Kathak dancer and choreographer based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where she founded Kadamb School of Dance and Music, an institute of Indian dance and music in 1967.
Shubha Mudgal is an Indian musician, composer, singer, and multi instrumentalist known for her works in Hindustani classical music, Indian pop, and Tamil cinema. Her repertoire includes the genres of khyal, thumri, dadra. She has received the Padma Shri in 2000.
Damayanti Joshi was a noted renowned exponent of the Kathak dance form. She believed Kathak is the art of storytelling. She began in the 1930s dancing in Madame Menaka's troupe, which travelled to many parts of the world. She learnt Kathak from Sitaram Prasad of Jaipur Gharana and became an adept dancer at a very young age, and later trained under from Acchan Maharaj, Lacchu Maharaj and Shambhu Maharaj of Lucknow gharana, thus imbibing nuances from both the traditions. She became independent in the 1950s and achieved prominence in the 1960s, before turning into a guru at her dance school in Mumbai.
Chitresh Das was a classical dancer of the North Indian style of Kathak. Born in Calcutta, Das was a performer, choreographer, composer and educator. He was instrumental in bringing Kathak to the US and is credited with having established Kathak amongst the Indian diaspora in America. In 1979, Das established the Chhandam School of Kathak and the Chitresh Das Dance Company in California. In 2002, he founded Chhandam Nritya Bharati in India. There were ten branches of Chhandam worldwide. Until his death in 2015, Das taught dance as a way of life, a path for attaining self-knowledge and as a service to society.
Uma Sharma is a kathak dancer, choreographer and teacher. She is also runs the Bharatiya Sangeet Sadan, Delhi, a classical dance and music academy, situated in New Delhi, founded by her father in 1946. She is most known for reviving the old classical dance form of Natwari Nritya or the Raslila of Brindavan, which later evolved into the Kathak.
Parampara Series – Andhri or Andhri is a national festival of music and dance held in Hyderabad, India. It is organised by renowned Kuchipudi dancers Raja Reddy and Radha Reddy. It is a 3-day, annual event is held at Ravindra Bharathi auditorium. There is another Parampara festival held in New Delhi which started in 1976.
Madhavi Mudgal is an Indian classical dancer known for her Odissi dance style. She has won several awards, including the Sanskriti Award, 1984, President of India's award of Padma Shri, 1990, the Orissa State Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1996, Grande Medaille de la Ville by Govt. of France, 1997, Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 2000, Delhi State Parishad Samman, 2002 and the title of Nritya Choodamani in 2004.
Nirupama Rajendra is a notable Indian classical dancer in the Bharathnatyam and Kathak dance forms. She is based in Bangalore, Karnataka. Nirupama and her husband Rajendra perform Kathak together. They established the Abhinava Dance Company in 1994 with an aim to make dance more accessible. They are known for fusing traditional and contemporary dance styles. The dance duo has given many performances and received several awards including Natya Mayuri and Natya Mayura (1998), Karnataka Kalashree (2011) and Nritya Choodamani.
Deepa Bhaskar is an Indian film and theatre actress, voice artist and classical dancer. Considered by many to be a child prodigy who was introduced to the film industry through Tiger Prabhakar's movie Mahendra Varma. She acted in movies like Deepavali, Srirastu Shubhamastu and Putti and as a lead actress in My Autograph and No 73, Shanthi Nivasa.
Maya Rao was an Indian classical dancer, choreographer and educator, in Kathak dance. She is known for her pioneering work in Kathak choreography, especially in dance ballets, and is credited for bringing Kathak, a North Indian-dance style to South India, when she opened her dance school, Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography (NIKC) in Malleswaram, Bangalore in 1987. She was also the founder director of her dance company, "Natya and Stem Dance Kampni", an amalgam of NIKC and the STEM Dance Kampni based in Bangalore. After her early training under Guru Sohanlal of Jaipur Gharana, followed by Guru Sunder Prasad also of the Jaipur Gharana, and went to train under Guru Shambhu Maharaj of Lucknow Gharana at National Institute of Kathak Dance in Delhi.
Rani Karnaa was an Indian classical dancer, known for her proficiency in the Indian dance form of Kathak, and regarded by many as one of the greatest exponents of the art form. She was honoured by the Government of India, in 2014, by bestowing on her the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her services to the field of dance.
Sunayana Hazarilal Agarwal is an Indian classical dancer, known for her expertise in the classical dance form of Kathak and reportedly the only surviving practitioner of the Janakiprasad Gharana of Kathak, also known as Banares Gharana. The Government of India honored her in 2011, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
Roshan Kumari Fakir Mohammad is an Indian classical dancer, actor and choreographer, considered by many as one of the foremost exponents of the Indian classical dance form of Kathak. She follows the Jaipur Gharana and is the founder of Nritya Kala Kendra, Mumbai, an academy promoting Kathak. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975, she received the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1984.
Uma Dogra is an Indian exponent of Kathak, an Indian Classical Dance form. She is the senior most disciple of Pt. Durga Lal, the Kathak Maestro from Jaipur Gharana. She is a Kathak soloist, a choreographer and a teacher. She has been performing in India and abroad for more than 40 years.
Guru Shama Bhate (born 6 October 1950) also known as Shama Tai, is among the Kathak exponents in India today. Her career spans over 40 years and she has been learning and performing Kathak from the age of 4 and has been a teacher and is involved with choreography and training many Kathak dancers in India. She is also the artistic director of her Dance Academy Nadroop in Pune.
Geetanjali Sharma is an Indian Folk exponent and a Kathak dancer. She is the disciple of Uma Dogra, the senior disciple of Pt. Durga Lal who was the Kathak maestro from Jaipur Gharana. She has been performing dance in India and abroad for more than 24 years.
Puru Dadheech is a Kathak dancer. He is a choreographer and educator of Indian classical dance, and is known for his pioneering work in the field of Kathak. At the oldest Kathak department which was formed in 1956 at Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya Public University located in Khairagarh, Puru Dadheech instated the first Kathak syllabus in 1961. He is the holder of the first Doctorate in Kathak Classical Dance and emphasizes the relevance of Shastras in the Kathak repertoire. He was awarded Padma Shri, the 4th highest civilian award of India He is currently serving as the Director of the world's first dedicated Kathak research Centre at the Sri Sri University, Cuttack called Sri Sri Centre for Advanced Research in Kathak.
Mangala Bhatt is a Kathak dance exponent. She is the senior disciple of Kathak maestro Pt. Durga Lal Ji of Jaipur Gharana. She has performed at many festivals in India. She is also the founding director of Aakruti Kathak Kendra.
S. Narmada popularly known as Guru Narmada was a Bharatanatyam exponent and teacher from Karnataka, India. She received several awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy Award, Rajyotsava Prashasti and Shantala Natya Sri Award.
