India Dance Festival will present several fine dance performances by some of the leading artists featuring Kathak styles. Kathak, the dance style from north India has the charm and subtlety associated with miniature paintings. Nurtured in the holy precincts of the Hindu temples Kathak was further enhanced with Persian influence during the Mogul reign in India. Kathak is one of the eight forms of Indian classical dance. This dance form traces its origins to the nomadic bards of ancient northern India, known as Kathakars or storytellers. Its form today contains traces of temple and ritual dances, and the influence of the bhakti movement. From the 16th century onwards it absorbed certain features of Persian dance and Central Asian dance which were imported by the royal courts of the Mughal era. There are three major schools or gharana of Kathak from which performers today generally draw their lineage: the gharanas of Jaipur, Lucknow and Varanasi; there is also a less prominent Raigarh gharana which amalgamated technique from all three preceding gharanas but became famous for its own distinctive compositions.

Hemant and Vaishali Panwar are highly accomplished Kathak dancers of the Jaipur Gharana who have been working together for more than twenty years. They received their professional training at the National Institute of Kathak Dance under the guidance of Pt. Rajendra Gangani in India. Both were conferred the title “Singar Mani’ in Bombay as the distinguished duet dancers in 2000. They were given RANA award in 2012 for their contribution in promoting Kathak in Canada. Recently in 2016, both were recognized by Canadian community of arts initiative for imparting training par excellence in GTA and thus contributing enthusiastically to the upsurge of interest in Indian classical music and Dance amongst the youth. They have performed extensively across Canada. Their landmark shows of the recent year included performance at Danse Kapital Fest, Ottawa and presentation of their dance work – With you between us at University of Calgary, Toronto International Dance festival, Kathak Mahotsav and last but not least, their full length Dance drama – Krishna with original choreography and music to a sold out audience at Markham Theatre and later in India in holy City Kurushetra brought them a great applause. Their spell binding performance at International festival – Khajuraho in India has once again benchmarked their caliber as a duet. They also performed at the Nehru Centre in London, England as part of the Indian campaign for the London Olympics 2012. They have also performed in front of the Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Parliament. They have performed in many countries such as Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Japan, Canada and USA. They also mesmerized Torontonians with a special performance at the Cirque Du Soleil Gala to fundraise for the One Drop Foundation which provides access to clean water. Both were also part of the documentary film, “Jaipur Kathak”, which was an archival initiative for the national Indian television channel Doordarshan. Hemant is also a versatile musician and singer and has contributed immensely to Kathak music by creating melodious taranas, sargams, and dance numbers for performance purposes. Both Hemant and Vaishali are also Artists in Education and are involved in conducting dance workshops in schools around the TDSB and Peel Board. They have also set up their Academy in many locations throughout the GTA for students of all ages.

Shiv Nadkarni is a highly trained Kathak dancer holding his bachelor’s degree in Kathak from the acclaimed SAMVED Conservatory of Music and Dance. He has trained in the classical dance form of Kathak under the able tutelage of his guru, Smt. Archana Joglekar, for over 13 years, learning and perfecting various facets of taal anga, bhaav anga, and layakaari. He has also presented his Rang Manch Pravesh—a three-hour solo performance in Kathak with the finest of musicians and his Guru—in 2015. In 2016 , Shiv was honored with title of ‘Nava Gandharva in Kathak’ as an outstanding Kathak dancer, by Madhyam. Shiv has performed and won in group, duet, and solo performances throughout his time with Archana Nrityalaya in countless dance festivals over the past ten years, such as Zalak, a competition of classical and semi-classical dance, and the Mudra Festival in Philadelphia. He is also currently a qualified examiner of the SAMVED Exam Board and has been working as an examiner for three years, evaluating the practical exams of Kathak students in various levels of training. Besides having extensively studied Kathak, Shiv has also explored Hip-Hop and Bollywood dance with Diwakar Performing Arts Group, and has won first place awards with his groups at competitions like Naya Andaaz, Naach Revolution and FIA.

Pandit Jayateerth Mevundi is considered to be the doyen of Kiraana Gharaana by connoisseurs of music. Jayateerth Mevundi hails from the musical land of no snitch, Hubli-Dharwad of Karnataka. Sri Mevundi, the gem was unearthed and gifted to the realm of music by Pt. Arjunsa Nakod and chiseled by Pt. Shripati Paadegar, who himself was the prime disciple of the legend Bharat Ratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. An efficient singer with melodious voice, Jayateerth Mevundi is credited with ‘A’ grade by All India Radio and Doordarshan. One of the most sought after young artists of the country, Jayateerth has set his own scales of standard in the Hindustani classical, Santavaani and Daasavani streams. His live concerts are mind blowing, recorded CDs provide an excellent panacea for frustration. Jayateerth Mevundi is role model for the wannabe musicians, thanks to his of talent and hard work. This melodious singer was awarded with “young maestro in music” by the past president of India, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalaam besides the recognitions akin to Pt. Jasraj Gourav Puraskar, Pt. Basavraj Rajguru Puraskar and Aditya Birla Sangeet Kala Kiran. The glitterati among these is the “Swar Bhaskar Puraskar” the first ever award given in the name of Bharth Ratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Probably Jayateerth Mevundi is the only young vocalist who is blessed by 3 legendary musicians Bharath Ratna Pt. Ravishankar, Bharath Ratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and Bharath Ratna Lata Mangeshkar after listening to Jayateerthji’s singing. The most popular music director A.R. Rehman recently appreciated Pt. Mevundi’s singing in a an exclusive interview conducted by Peoples Magazine. When asked by journalists “Have you ever been awestruck while meeting another famous personality? Then A.R replied “among musicians, there is Hindustani Classical singer Jayateerth Mevundi from Hubli who sings like electricity. He can put any one to shame. Jayateerth has performed at all major music festivals in India and toured extensively many countries abroad.

Narendra Nayak is a disciple of harmonium maestro Pt. Vasanth Kanakapur. He is a musician and a proficient Harmonium player from childhood. He is also a graded artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan. He has accompanied leading vocalists of India including Pt. Rajan Mishra & Pt. Sajan Mishra, Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, Pt. Venkatesh Kumar, Pt. Jayateerth Mevundi ,Pt. Vinayak Torvi, Vidushi Arati Anklikar, Vidushi Piu Sarkhel, Pt. Kaivalya Kumar Gurav & many more to give concerts in India and abroad. Mr.Nayak is the vice president of Sangeet Bharati Foundation, Mangalore which has been organizing many music concerts of legendary musicians. Mr.Nayak is also the Chairman of Expert Educational & Foundation, Mangalore.

Keshav Joshi is a desciple of Pt. R H More. He hails from Bagalkot and now settled in Bangalore. One of the finest solo and accompanist, Sri Joshi has accompanied renowned musicians of India including Pts. Rajan & Sajan Mishra, Pt. Venkatesh Kumar, Neeladri Kumar (Sitar), Pt. Jayateerth Mevundi, etc. He has also availed higher level of training in tabla from Pt. Ishwarlal Mishra of Banaras and Pt. Suraj Purandare. This young tabla player is a busy artists having performed in and abroad is a B High graded artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan.

Sandip Chatterjee, a disciple of Pt Tarun Bhattacharya and vocal maestro Pt Ajoy Chakraborty, is a rich and accomplished Santoor player of our time. He has been heralded as the torch bearer of two Gharanas at the same time – MAIHAR and PATIALA. Sandip has been extensively performing in many music festivals and concerts all around the globe. And, he has also collaborated with many overseas musicians across genres such as Jazz, Rock, Contemporary and Fusion. His collaborations in ‘Calcutta Express’ with famous Jazz Guitarist Guy Strazz; ‘Shanti’ with famous Saxophonist Claudio Gigilio and afro-Cuban percussionist Fulvio Farkas; ‘Emotion’ with Swedish Jazz saxophonist Elin Larsson; ‘Feelings’ with guitar player Giuliano Modarelli have been very much acclaimed in Jazz & contemporary world music genre. His collaboration ‘Calcutta Express’ has been nominated as finalist in the Indo Acoustic Project’s “Best CD’s of 2006” award in the World Music category. He has 21 CD's to his credit. His ethnic aesthetics had also won him many awards and laurels such as “President of India Award”, “Jadubhatta Award”, “Sangeeth Ratna Award”“ Abhinaba Kala Sanman” etc. His expertise has also been utilized by renowned music directors like A.R. Rehman, Jatin Lalit, Gulshan Kumar, Ravindra Jain, Pt. V.Balsara and others.

Subhajyoti Guha was introduced to tabla at an young age by his father Dr S R Guha and later since1983 he has been training under tabla maestro Pt Sankha Chatterjee. Subhajyoti received the President's award in 1989 and presently is a grade A artiste of AIR and TV and performs regularly in major concerts worldwide. Over the last 15 years he has accompanied many musical stalwarts such as Ud Shahid Parvez, Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt, Pt Ronu Majumder , Pt Nayan Ghosh, Vidushi Purnima Chaudhuri and Vidushi Kala Ramnath. Subhajyoti has also extended his horizons into the experimental music scenario and performs with other genres and with his band AMEYA based out of Toronto. Academically he holds a masters degree in applied mathematics but is living his dream of teaching and performing worldwide as a tabla player.