Chitresh Das
His parents founded "Nritya Bharati", one of India's first institutions for dance that housed teachers of several classical and folk styles.
Growing up in his parents' dance school in Calcutta, Nritya Bharati, Das was surrounded by literary artists, poets, dancers, and gurus.
He recalled iconic dancers such as Rukmini Devi Arundale, Uday Shankar, Balasaraswati and the legendary Shambhu Maharaj coming to visit his home.
Das was a child prodigy who attained national fame, performing at age 11 with the legendary tabla maestro Samta Prasadji and in a special concert for Indian dance icon Uday Shankar.
In 2010, Seema Mehta, one of his disciples and Das founded the second branch of his school in India, Chhandam Nritya Bharati, in Mumbai.
[10] Das was said to have remained committed to preserving the traditional one-to-one transmission of knowledge between guru and shisya in today's society; he trained many disciples who have gone on to become solo artists in their own right.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, Chitresh Das and his Dance Company have been a mainstay of the local dance season and his company's home season has included such masterpieces as Gold Rush (1990), Sadhana (1991), East as Center (2003), and his most recent award-winning collaboration with tap dancer, Jason Samuels Smith, IJS: India Jazz Suites (2005 to present).
The original IJS collaboration was selected as the number one dance performance of 2005 by the San Francisco Chronicle[12] as well as receiving the Isadora Duncan Ensemble of the year award (2005).
[16] Das had performed throughout Europe, including Bonn and Aachen International Dance Festivals (1983), Logan Hall in London (1984), and Nijmegen and Arnhem, Holland (1984).
In the early years, Das was known for his distinctively athletic style: fast and powerful emphasising footwork and swift turns.
[19] Das taught in this rigorous style with focus on tayari (readiness of technique, speed, and stamina) and laykari (virtuosity of Indian classical rhythmic system), but equally emphasises khubsurti (beauty) and nazakat (delicacy and refinement).
Whilst Das has choreographed many group pieces, he and his students continue to present traditional full-length Kathak solos, requiring the dancer to improvise on stage with live musicians for up to two hours.
[21] Kathak yoga is based on the fundamental yogic concept of integrating the mind, soul and body and was the subject of a doctoral dissertation at Harvard University by Dr. Sarah Morelli.
In 2007, Das received an award from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, a national arts institution inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in India in 1938, for outstanding contribution in the field of Kathak dance.
He received a special award for presenting the largest Indian classical dance festival outside of India, Kathak at the Crossroads (2006).
Das and the teachers of Nritya Bharati taught the children of the New Light Foundation Kathak dance as a means for cultural and self-awareness and empowerment.
He argued that these values must manifest both within the context of their study of Kathak and also permeate in other aspects of their lives by giving back to their communities and the society by and large.
