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.

Anuradha Nag had her initial training from Nataraj Parimal Krishna and later from veteran gurus-the legendary Padmavibhushan Pandit Birju Maharaj and his foremost disciple Pandit Vijai Shankar. She had advanced training in abhinaya from Padmabhushan Kalanidhi Narayanan, Smt. Chetna Jalan & Swapna Saswati Sen. She passed the Nritya Prabhakar with distinction at the tender age of 13. She stood 1st in the Pashchim Banga Nikhil Bharatiyo Competition. She taught Kathak at all levels at the Padatik Dance Center in Kolkata and choreographed for the school’s festivals. She has also worked with the mentally challenged children at the Manovikas Kendra for 5 years giving them the joy through dance. Before making USA her home she was a recommended artist for the Sangeet Natak Akademi as well as the Indian Council of Cultural Relations. She had the privilege of working with great gurus and choreographers such as Pt. Birju Maharaj, Smt. Kumudini Lakhia, Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan and Prof. Deitmar Seyffert of Germany. Anuradha has performed extensively in prestigious music conferences in India and in dance festivals throughout the world. She has choreographed many traditional and contemporary themes for the school shows, like Jhalkia, Om, Rituranga, Khoj, Chitrangshu (collection of small compositions), dance drama based on Rabindranath Tagore’s short story Kshuditopashan, Jeevandhara (life and works of Rabindranath Tagore), Panchapravaah and Kathak through the Bollywood Lane. Anuradha believes that dance develops concentration, discipline, concept of space, grace and poise. It establishes the ultimate connection between mind and body which leads to self-confidence and self-expression. This philosophy inspired Anuradha to establish Tarangini School of Kathak Dance in the San Francisco Bay area in 1992. The name was coined by the illustrious doyen of Kathak, Pt. Birju Maharaj himself. Since then, under the auspices of Tarangini School of Kathak Dance, Anuradha has been teaching and performing Kathak in the Bay area and beyond.

Ariaki Dandawate, born and brought up in New Jersey, has been studying Kathak under the discipleship of Guru Pandita Archana Joglekar for over 12 years. Having been exposed to the nuances, beauty, and prestigious lineage of Kathak by her guru from a young age, Aria has spent the past several years seriously pursuing every aspect of the art form. In 2014, Aria received her Visharad (Bachelors) degree from the SAMVED Exam Board, and in August of 2016 she presented her Rang Manch Pradarshan (solo performance). Her Visharad degree in Kathak has allowed her to study the essence of the Natya Shastra – a pillar of the arts – as well as become proficient in complex practical and theoretical applications of both Taal and Bhav Anga. In Kathak, Aria has taken part in many powerful performances presented by Archana Nrityalaya, such as ‘Lay Lalit Lalitya’ and ‘Rhythm of Life.’ She has also participated in various dance competitions held in the Tri-State area, winning first place on several occasions with teams from the academy. In the Tri-State area, Ariaki has performed at many events held by various cultural, religious, and philanthropic organizations. In July of 2015, Ariaki was a Top 5 Finalist in Zee TV’s Dance India Dance North America competition held in Mumbai, India. In the last year, Ariaki has taken examinership, sitting as examiner for many exams in both Kendall Park, New Jersey and Dallas, Texas under the SAMVED Exam Board. Apart from her rigorous trianing in Kathak, Ariaki is pursuing her academic interests, now entering her second year at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering where she is studying Biomolecular Science with a minor in Computer Science.

Tarangini School of Kathak will showcase four disciples of Auradha Nag including Shivalee Talati, Isha Salian, Nupur Gaidhani and Anupriya Nag. Shivalee Talati has been learning from Smt. Anuradha Nag for more than fifteen years and has represented Tarangini on prestigious platforms such as the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and the International Kathak Festival in Chicago. She has taken several workshops with Pandit Birju Maharajji. Shivalee received her B.S. in psychology from the University of California, Davis and is currently pursuing her master’s in applied psychology at USC. She has worked with children with mental disabilities and next hopes to work on inter-communication within companies. Isha Salian has been learning from Smt. Anuradha Nag since 2003 and has represented Tarangini in various performances including the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and the International Kathak Festival in Chicago. She has taken several workshops with Pandit Birju Maharajji. Isha has a B.A. in communication and English and a master’s in journalism from Stanford University. She works as a science and artificial intelligence writer at NVIDIA. Nupur Gaidhani has been learning from Smt. Anuradha Nag since she moved to the U.S. in 2016 and has taken workshops with Pandit Birju Maharajji. She previously had 8 years of training in Nashik India under Smt. Nivedita Chaurasiya. Nupur has a food sciences degree from K.K. Wagh Women’s Polytechnic in Nashik and a B.Tech degree in biotechnology from Sinhgad College of Engineering in Pune. Anupriya Nag has been learning from Smt Anuradha Nag for the past twelve years and has also taken workshops with Pandit Birju Maharaj. She has represented Tarangini all over the Bay Area and has performed at the International Kathak Festival in Chicago. Anupriya Nag is currently a junior at Pomona College studying International Relations and Political Science.

Dilshad Khan belongs to the Sikar Gharana of music which has given several stalwarts to Indian classical music. He is the ninth generation to take up Sarangi. His great grandfather Ustad Azim Khan was a court musician at Sikar in Rajasthan. He began his training at the age of 6 in music from his grandfather Ustad Gulab Khan Sahab who was a great sarangi player and vocalist of his time and from his father Ustad Nasir Khan Sahab who was also a great sitar player. Later he started learning sarangi from his legendary uncle Padma Bhushan Ustad Sultan Khan Sahab. Dilshad gave his first performance at the age of 10 at All India Radio Youth festival in Jodhpur. He is known today for his excellent command on this difficult instrument and has already remarkably imbibed almost his great uncle’s entire repertoire with a similar command and mastery on the sarangi. Apart from his solo performances he has had the honor to perform with artists like Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Trilok Gurtu, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Pt. Ajay Pohankar, Pt. Ajay Chakrabarty, Sivamani, Pt. Anindo Chatterjee, Louis Banks, Abida Parveen, Hariharan, Pankaj Udhas, Talat Aziz, Shankar Mahadevan, Pt. Rajan-Sajan Mishra, Juliet Robertz, Mickey Hart, Taufiq Qureshi and many more. He has played sarangi with Ustad Zakir Hussain in the album Global Drum Project which won the prestigious Grammy Award in 2009. Dilshad Khan is also famous in Bollywood music industry, he has played for more than 500 bollywood movies. He has played sarangi in hit films like Devdas, Namaste London, Mohabbatein, Rockstar, Faltu, Mausam, Guzaarish, Jhoom Bara Bar Jhoom, Kyunki, Red, Tere Naam, Dhobi Ghat just to name few. He have given many performances in all the major music festivals and concerts in India. He has performed in many prestigious venues in world like Royal Albert Hall, London, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Holland, USA, UAE, Muscat, Bahrain, Europe, etc.

One of the youngest President Award Winning "A" Grade Sarod artiste of All India Radio & National Television - Kolkata, Abhisek Lahiri has won the hearts of discerning audiences worldwide with his maturity, depth & perfection already at the age of 29. Abhisek was initiated in Sarod at an early age of 5 and trained under the tutelage of his father as well as Guru, eminent Sarod maestro Pandit Alok Lahiri & became one of his premier disciples. Abhisek’s Sarod recital has a blending of three major Gharanas of Sarod playing: Shajahanpur, Senia Maihar & Senia Bangash Gharana (Gwalior). Abhisek’s playing reflects the subtlety, aestheticism and nostalgic spirituality while combining it with resonant power & intensity to captivate the listener with the beauty and originality of his Sarod playing. Abhisek possess the dignity of being the First Indian Musician along with his eminent father to perform in “Europe Parliament” in France and also in "Canada Culture Days" in Hamilton, Canada on invitation of The Malhar Group. Abhisek is an empanelled member artist of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), New Delhi. Abhisek took part in the “World Kinder Festival” in Holland & enthralled the audiences as a ‘Wonder Child Sarod Player’ in 1997. The Dutch Television network telecasts his recitals countrywide even now. Abhisek has some CD albums released to his credit: His two solo albums “Sparkling Sarod’ and "Mood of Puriya Kalyan" released by Bihaan Music received nominations in Global Indian Music Awards (GiMA) of Mumbai in “Best Hindustani Classical Album- Instrumental” category for the year 2010 & 2014 respectively. His latest release “IONAH Trio” CD album along with Japanese Guitarist Hideaki Tsuji is also getting worldwide appreciation. Abhisek has performed extensively within India and across the world in countries like USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Japan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka etc.

Subrata Bhattacharya is one of the leading tabla players in India today. He has received his taalim under Shri Tamal Krishna Chatterjee, Shri Nripen Karmakar and Shri Tapan Kr. Banerjee before he was finally accepted as a pupil of tabla maestro Pt. Shankar Ghosh, all of whom honed his talent to the level of refinement now witnessed by audiences everywhere. He has since proved himself a worthy exponent of the Farukhabad Gharana. Recognition of his talent has come in the form of such awards as the Sangeet Prabhankar and the Gold Medal and the Saangeet Praveen from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahadad, and Sangeet Bhushan from the Bhatkhande College, Lucknow. Renowned artists whom he has accompanied in the past few years are Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Dr.N.Rajam, Pt. Buddhaditya Mukherjee, Ud Shahid Parvez Khan, Ud Ali Ahmed Hussain, Chitraveena Ravikiran, Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Pt. Samaresh Chaudhury, etc. He is a visiting professor at the University of Urbana Champaign,IL. The next milestone of his creativity and innovation is "Naad- The Everlasting Sound", a group he has formed to experiment with fusion music. It seems the next inevitable step in Subrata's career as a mingling and merging of eastern, middle eastern and western styles of music is the trend among makers and lovers of music these days. He is been a part of the Chicago based Indo -Jazz band Flat Earth Ensemble since its inception.

Mita Nag, daughter of veteran satirist, Pandit Manilal Nag and granddaughter of Sangeet Acharya (a master musician) Gokul Nag, belongs to the Vishnupur Gharana of Bengal, a school of music nearly 300 years old. In terms of lineage, Mita is the sixth generation sitar player in her family, the tradition having begun with her fore fathers. It was with her grandfather Gokul Nag, who had become the Guru of a noted zamindar (feudal lord) family of Uttarpara, a Northern suburb town of Kolkata, that the music of the Nag family came into limelight. With her illustrious father Manilal, the sitar tradition of Vishnupur gharana was made known to the world. Mita was initiated into music at the tender age of four . She had shown rather early gestures of her love for music. Toddling with her tiny sitar Mita began her early training under the guidance of her mother who was also a disciple of Gokul Nag. Her grandfather’s encouragement and instructions through singing had much influence on her early reception of music, most noticeably, associating the instrument with song. Her tutelage under her father started at the age of six. Mita appeared for her debut performance at the age of ten years, the year 1979 being observed as the International Year of the Child. The same year Mita won the Junior National Talent Search Award of the Govt .of India. Mita has performed in a number of concerts, solo as well as duet recitals with her father in major cities of India and in many cities of the US, Canada, Japan and Europe. She was awarded the Junior Fellowship Award by the Human Resource Development, Govt of India, for her research project on Vishnupur Gharana. Mita has founded the Gokul Nag Memorial Foundation, a Trust for the promotion of Indian Classical Music, in the fond memory of her grandfather. Mita is a Masters in English Literature and an M.Phil. in English from The University of Kolkata.

Hassan Haider is an acknowledged Shehnai player. His family hails from Allahabad, and he was born in Kolkata (Calcutta). His father Ud. Ali Ahmed Hussain was a famous Shehnai maestro. His family has been representing this art form for generations. Hassan Haider received his training in Benaras and Senia Gharanas from his father. He also learned from Pt. Arvind Parikh, the famous sitar maestro from school of Ud. Imdad Khan, Ud. Enayat Khan and Ud. Vilayat Khan. Hassan’s great grandfather Ud. Wazir Ali Khan was a musician of distinction who was the first musician to ever perform the Shehnai at the Buckingham Palace in London, England in 1910 and was awarded by Pt. Motilal Nehru, the father of India’s first Prime Minister Jawharlal Nehru. Even at this young age, Hassan Haider has already performed at many important music festivals, venues and occasions in India, such as The Autumn Festival of Dance and Music in celebration of India’s 50th year of independence, Dover Lane Music Festival in Kolkata, Harballav Festival in Jalandhar, Uttarpara Sangeet Chakra in West Bengal, Sri Ram Shankarlal Festival in Delhi, Ud. Alauddin Khan Academy in Bhopal, Sangeet Natak Academy in Pune, only to name a few. All of his performances have been well reviewed in newspapers and magazines. He has toured and performed with his father in several countries outside India. Those include the USA, Canada, U.K., France, Switzerland and Belgium. He is regularly featured on Indian radio and television.

Subhen Chatterjee will accompany on Tabla. Subhen Chatterjee bases his style of playing to Lucknow Gharana that he learnt from his illustrious Guru tabla maestro Pandit Swapan Chowdhury. Not restricting himself to one single Gharana-Subhen went on to learn the intricacies & beauty of other Gharanas that he introduced in his playing & which has made his style of playing so unique & distinctive. Subhen has also created India’s leading fusion band, KARMA, which is still the only of its kind from the eastern part of India. Subhen’s recent collaboration with renowned percussionist, SIVAMANI, has enabled him to form another unique fusion band called FRIENDS OF DRUMS whose main objective is to help the lesser known yet very talented musicians sharing stage with renowned ones. His album BANDISH FUSION was nominated for JPF Music Awards (one of the USA’s leading music awards) in 2006. Subhen’s latest albums BANDISH FUSION: REDEFINED and BANDISH FUSION: THE LASTING LEGACY are already in the charts; both in India and abroad.

Pandit Shantanu Bhattacharyya is foremost among the young maestros of Hindustani classical vocal music. President’s Gold Medal winner Shantanu is a Top graded artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan. Possessing the rare feat of having won simultaneous top positions in Khayal and Thumri at All India Radio music competition, Shantanu Bhattacharyya’s singing has been described by senior maestros including Guruma Vidushi Meera Banerjee, as a true reflection of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Shantanu groomed in music first by his mother Ira Bhattacharyya and then Sri Amalendu Pal, Sri Bhismadev Bhattacharyya, Sri Sukhendu Goswami and Sri Sudhir Banerjee; Shantanu in subsequent years learned expansively from worshipped names of the Patiala-Kasur Gharana; Pandit Prasun Banerjee, Vidushi Meera Banerjee and Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty. Associating also with other great artists while a scholar at Kolkata’s ITC Sangeet Research Academy in the ‘90s, he perfected himself into a musician aiming to combine the best of all styles, focusing centrally on the gayaki of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Shantanu has performed at numerous festivals & venues in India, United States, Canada, Italy, United Kingdom, Finland, France, Germany and Singapore. Shantanu Bhattacharyya's music school Aalor Pathe Raga Dhwani has won accolades from one and all, for the brilliant performances of the young pupils learning under him in the guru shishya tradition.

Pandit Ashis Sengupta is a versatile percussionist of the Banaras gharana. He received his initial training from his father Shri Ranjit Kumar Sengupta and was later groomed by Pandit Nanku Maharaj, Pandit Mahapurush Mishra and Pandit Krishna Kumar Ganguly. Pt. Sengupta has innovated to the various rhythmic compositions learnt from his Gurus and is also blessed with a lot of traditional compositions, Stotras and varieties of Gats from the great Gurus. Both as a soloist and an accompanist to widely varied music styles and performers, he is also an established western drummer to his credit. Apart from playing Tabla, he has composed Bhajans and music arrangements for light music compositions recorded by many reputed audio-video companies. Most recently, he has written a book on Tabla named "Facets of Tabla Playing", published by Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi. He has traveled extensively all over the globe for his performances and lecture-demonstration on Tabla playing under the aegis of numerous organizations. At present he is a member of the Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, University of Delhi.

Durba Bhattacharyya is promising vocalist and accomplished harmonium artist. Imbibing music from her parents, her mother Tapati Banerjee being a vocalist, Durba Bhattacharyya was nurtured in the basics of Hindustani vocal music at a very early age by Ustad Mazhar Ali Khan of Patiala gharana; grandson of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, the celebrated genius of the Patiala Kasur style, subsequently took charge of her taalim and tutored her to perfection while she was a scholar at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy (SRA), Kolkata. Durba then obtained more guidance from Vidushi Meera Banerjee, the undisputed Empress of the Patiala Kasur style who was the gandabandh shagird of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Since her marriage in 1997, she has been learning from Shantanu Bhattacharyya, her Gurubhai-turned-husband, who was also a former scholar here. Durba Bhattacharyya has performed in Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Ambala, Patiala, Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Surat, Agartala, Mathura, Auroville and Pondicherry. She is an artist of All India Radio Kolkata. She has regaled the audience in USA, Canada, France, England and Singapore, and has to her credit several CDs.