On film
From a very young age, I wanted only one thing: to pursue my passion, and to share that love with as many people as I could. That devotion to Kathak led me first to Smt. Reba Vidyarthi, and then to the legendary Pandit Birju Maharaj, under whom I trained for over a decade. I was one of the youngest artistes to receive a Grade-A rating from Doordarshan, India’s national channel, and at just seventeen I was featured as a young soloist on its National Program of Dance and Music.
For years I performed and traveled with Pandit Birju Maharaj as part of his select ensemble. During these years we toured constantly, at least once a year visiting the United Kingdom and the United States, and dancing as far afield as China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. We performed at world-famous venues such as Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, and the Louis E. Plummer Auditorium in Los Angeles, and at historic places such as the Taj Mahal, the Khajuraho temples, and the Purana Qila in Delhi. As part of Maharaj-ji’s troupe, I also worked on his choreographies for Bollywood, including the film Devdas.
After moving to the United States, I have dedicated my life to furthering the Kalka-Bindadin Gharana of Lucknow here in the Bay Area, carrying that same love to a new generation of dancers.
