Ms. Diksha Upreti (2005-06)
Diksha Upreti, along with her twin sister Divya are called the dancing twins in the field of Kathak Dance. Diksha, got her initial training from Smt Vaswati Mishra at Shri Ram Bhartiya Kala Kendra. In her continuing pursuit of excellence in the art, Guru Munna Shuklaji was the principal guiding light.

She has won prominent recognition such as “Rashtriya Ekta Award”, Junior Fellowship from Dept of Culture, Govt of India. She has performed in various fora.


Ms. Monisa Nayak (2006-07)
Kathak dance performer, MONISA NAYAK , an A grade artist of Doordarshan Kendra, New Delhi, was trained under Guru Rajendra Gangani in Jaipur style and was honoured with the title of ‘ Sangeet Kala Ratna’ at Guru Poornima Mahotsava. Her major solo presentations are ‘Horizon’ (ICCR), National Programme of Dance (Doordarshan), Kathak Mahotsava (Kathak Kendra), Taj Mahotsava (Agra), Maharana Kumbha( Udaipur) and Prativa Utsav (Sangeet Natak Akademi).

She was awarded the Sanskriti-Kalakriti Fellowship in 2006 to undertake tutelage under Guru Prerana Shrimali to evolve original style building creations around Kathak, without denigrating the purity of the style used.

She has recently received Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for Kathak dance.


Ms. Rukmini Jaiswal (2007-08)
Rukmini Jaiswal, was awarded the Fellowship for the year 2007-08 for her
proposal Study of Bhava in Kathak through Poetry. She was to complete her research under Guru Prerana Shrimali in New Delhi. Rukmini has learnt Kathak and has been under the complete guidance of Dr Kumkum Dhar for the past 12 years.


Ms. Mitul Sengupta (2008-09)
A National Scholar in Kathak dance from Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India and Fellow of Sanskriti Kalakriti Fellowship is presently a teacher, choreographer and Director of International dance Company “RHYTHMOSAIC”. She is highly trained in Classical Ballet, Classical Jazz Dance and Kathak. She has taught in reputed dance companies like

1. ATTAKKALARI CENTER FOR MOVEMENT ARTS (BANGALORE)
2. ABHINAVA DANCE ACADEMY – NIRUPAMA RAJENDRA (BANGALORE)
3. STEM DANCE KAMPNI (BANGALORE)
4. KATHAK KENDRA (NEW DELHI)
5. ASHLEY LOBO DANCE COMPANY- DANCEWORX (NEW DELHI)
6. OFFJAZZ DANCE ACADEMY – (NICE FRANCE)
7. NICE UNIVERSITY (NICE FRANCE).

Presently she is researching on the similarities of Kathak dance with Classical Jazz dance and its uniqueness when both the forms blend and create a new genre of dance keeping the parameters and aesthetics of both the forms intact.

Ms Namrata Pamnani (2010-11)
She was awarded the Sanskriti-Kalakriti Fellowship for her Proposal “ Sanchari Bhava: Reviving Intricacies of Abhinaya.”She proposed to do her research under Guru SmtPreranaShrimali.Namrata has studied Kathak for more than 20 years with Guru Smt. Bharti Gupta and Pt. Jaikishan Maharaj. She is also trained in Hindustani Classical Music. She has been contributing to choreographies of leading Dance maestros in India and abroad.

Ms. Ipsita Chatterjee (2012-2013)
The fellowship was awarded to pursue specialization in choreography in Kathak and to learn new patterns and designs of the vocabulary of Kathak based on its traditional dance forms under the guidance of Guru KumidiniLakhiaji of Ahmedabad. She is specialized in the style of Lucknow Gharana under the supervision of Pt. Guru Shree Jai Kishan Maharaj.