Kapila Vatsyayan was a leading scholar of Indian classical dance, art, architecture, and art history. She served as a member of parliament and bureaucrat in India, and also served as the founding director of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.
Sangeet Natak Akademi is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.
Ramanlal C. Mehta was an Indian musician and musicologist. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour.
The Indian honours system is the system of awards given to individuals for a variety of services to the Republic of India. The categories of awards are as follows:
Munna Shukla was a Kathak guru and choreographer of Lucknow Gharana based in New Delhi, India. Born to a family who has been involved in dance for generations, Munna Shukla specialized in Kathak, a classical dance form of North India. He was a grandson of the noted Kathak Maestro, Late Achhan Maharaj, and a nephew of Birju Maharaj.
The Sahitya Akademi Fellowship is a literary honour in India bestowed by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters. It is the highest honour conferred by the Akademi on a living writer, the number of fellows at no time exceeding 21. Elected from among writers thought by the Akademi to be of acknowledged merit, the fellows are sometimes described as the "immortals of Indian literature."
The Lalit Kala Akademi Fellowship, also known as Lalit Kala Akademi Ratna is an honor for the fine arts in India. It is awarded to eminent artists for their lifetime achievements in the field of visual arts by the Lalit Kala Akademi, India's National Academy of Art. It is regarded as the highest recognition and honour that can be bestowed on an artist in the country as the academy is a national body of the Government of India.
Santidev Ghose was an Indian author, singer, actor, dancer and maestro of Rabindra Sangeet.
Rajkumar Singhajit Singh, is a leading exponent, choreographer and a guru of Indian classical dance form of Manipuri, including the Pung cholom and Raslila. He was awarded with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1984 and the Padma Shri in 1986 for his contribution to the Manipuri dance. In the year 2011, Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's The National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, awarded him with its highest award, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for his contribution to Indian Dance. In 2014 he was also conferred with the Tagore Award.
Balantrapu Rajanikanta Rao was an Indian writer, composer and poet in the Telugu language. He was the son of Balantrapu Venkatarao, one of modern Telugu poet-duo "Kavi Rajahamsa" Venkata Parvateswara Kavulu. He won several national and state level awards for his work. He died in April 2018 at the age of 98.
Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar was an exponent of Dagar vani Dhrupad of Indian classical music. He represented the 19th generation of Dagar Tradition. His cousins Nasir Moinuddin Dagar and Nasir Aminuddin Dagar were known as the Senior Dagar Brothers. Similarly, Nasir Zahiruddin and Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar were known as the Junior Dagar Brothers. His other cousins were Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, Fariduddin Dagar, and H. Sayeeduddin Dagar.
Guru Mayadhar Raut is an Indian classical Odissi dancer, choreographer and Guru.
Shanno Khurana is an Indian classical vocalist and composer, from the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana of Hindustani classical music. A disciple of the doyen of the gharana, Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan, she is known for performing rare bandish and raag, though her singing style includes genres like khayal, tarana, thumri, dadra, tappa, to chaiti and bhajan. Born and brought up in Jodhpur, she started singing on All India Radio in 1945 in Lahore, later shifted to Delhi, where she continued her singing on All India Radio, Delhi and in concerts and music festivals. She also pursued music education, finally earning her M.Phil. and PhD in music from the Kairagarh University, and has undertakes extensive research on folk music of Rajasthan.
Tapas Sen was a noted Indian stage lighting designer, who was an important figure in 20th-century Indian theatre. He started working with Bengali theatre movement in Kolkata in the late 1940s, along with noted directors, Utpal Dutt and Shambhu Mitra. Later he became a founding member of the Indian People's Theatre Association's (IPTA), Delhi chapter, and worked closely with Hindi theatre. Through his career stretching five decades he worked theatre directors, Ebrahim Alkazi, Vijay Tendulkar, and also dancers Sadhana Bose, Chandralekha, Birju Maharaj and Kelucharan Mahapatra. He was known not only for his creative stage lighting, but also had a significant impact on the work of leading theatre director of the time.
Professor B. R. Deodhar was an Indian classical singer, musicologist and music educator. He was a vocalist of Khayal-genre of Hindustani classical music.
Rohini Bhate was among the senior most Kathak dance exponents in India, who developed as a performer, teacher, writer, researcher and critic this Indian classical dance. During her career, she was awarded with several recognitions, such as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and the Kalidas Samman.
Tarapada Chakraborty was an Indian classical vocalist. He was born in Kotalipara, Faridpur, Bengal Presidency to a Vedic Brahmin family. He is known for the khyal and thumri forms of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of Raagpradhans. He is the pioneer of the Kotali Gharana which is best known for its slow rendition of alap while presenting a raga. He was the first Indian classical artiste to have presented any Raaga in 48-beats vilambit format, which is considered to be a difficult rendition in itself. He is the creator of Raaga Chhaya Hindol and Navamalaka.
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.
Geeta Mahalik is an Indian Odissi dancer. The Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri in 2014 for her services to the field of art and culture.
