Born in the family of hereditary dancers, Birju Maharaj is the torch bearer of the famous family , Kalka-Bindadin Gharana of Lucknow, which has been serving the art of Kathak dance through centuries together. Besides deing a superb dancer, he is also gifted with a number of other qualities which add to his artistic career. He is a wonderful singer having command over, Thumri, Dadra, Bhajan and Ghazals and is also superb drummer, playing nearly all drums with ease and precision. He has given a new dimension to Kathak, by experimenting this technique in the application of dance-dramas, which has become very successful medium for mass propagation. At the age of 28 years, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademy Award. He is also a recipient of the country's second highest civilian award-Padma Vibhushan, besides several other pestigeous awards like- Kalidas Samman, Nritya Choodamani, Andhra Ratna, Nritya Vilas, Adharshila Shikhar Samman, Soviet Land Nehru Award, Shiromani Samman, Rajiv Ghandhi Peace Award.

Chitresh Das, the pioneer who introduced India's classical Kathak dance to the United States, is a visionary artist and teacher whose dream is to break through cultural barriers to make his art accessible to all. His life's work began in 1970 when he received a Whitney Fellowship through the University of Maryland to teach Kathak and study modern dance. A year later, he was invited by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan to establish the first Kathak dance program in the U.S. at the renowned Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California. While there, Mr. Das created three major dance dramas with over forty musicians and dancers, the first ventures of their kind in Indo-American performing arts. In 1980 Mr. Das founded his own school and dance company, Chhandam.

Reference - www.birjumaharaj.com & www.kathak.org