I was captured by the different approach to the relationship between the student and the teacher in oriental countries. The instructors, who taught me and still teach a lot of the technique of Indian Kathak dance are Mata Prasad Mishra and Nirupama Rajendra. Other encounters, that had a great impact on me, were those with other masters of kathak Ravi Shankar Mishra, Navina Jafa and Sandip Mallick.

GURU
The syllable gu stands for dark shadows
The syllable ru stands for the one who dispels them.
For this ability to dispel darkness
guru received the name.

MATA PRASAD MISHRA



Mata Prasad Mishra studied kathak under the guidance of Smt. Alakhnanda Devi and tabla under the guidance of Smt. Pandit Panchu Maharaj.
Already since the age of ten he performed as kathak dancer and tabla player all over India - Varanasi, Lucknow, Delhi, Bombay etc. He received several awards for both tabla playing and dance.
He performs and gives workshops in Europe since 1989. In the Czech Republic he performed in 1999.
He lives and works in Varanasi.

NIRUPAMA RAJENDRA



Nirupama Rajendra studied kathak dance from guru Smt. Maya Rao and from Smt. Kumudini Lakhia.
She received several awards for her work. She performs in India and abroad.
Together with her husband and artistic partner she has founded the Abhinava Arts Center in Bangalore, where she teaches kathak and bharatanatyam.

SANDIP MALLICK



Sandip Mallick was born in a family of musicians. He has been learning kathak since he was 4 years old. He received 25 years‘ training from guru Srimati Srileka Mukherjee (Lucknow gharana) and attended workshops of Pt. Birju Maharaj, Pt. Rammohan Maharaj, Pt. Chitreash Das and Guru Bela Arnab He has also undergone "talim" of rhythm from Pandit Kumar Bose. The "talim" obtained from different stalwarts in the Classical Dance arena along with his own innovative imagination.In Calcutta he founded the "Nataraj" dance institute, where he teaches Kathak dance for 12 years already.