The text book of Kathak dance has been written according to the syllabus of Junior and Senior Diploma courses of Prayag Sangit Samiti, Allahabad, Praveshika and Madhyama courses of A.B. Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal, Bombay, Prathama and Madhyama courses of Bhatkhande Sangit Vidyapeeth, Lucknow and Indira Kala Sangit Vishwa- Vidyalaya, Khairagarh and Prarambhik and Nritya Bhushan Courses of Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh. It is also useful for the Kathak dance Students of High School, Intermediate and B.A. Examinations of different Boards and Universities of India.

Dr. Puru Dadheech is a well-known name in the field of Kathak dance as an excellent performer, enormous scholar, skillfull choreographer and an ideal teacher. He had rare opportunity to get intial training in Kathak dance from Pt. Durga Prasad and then further guidence in the traditional fashion from the great masters like Pt. Narayan Prasad, Pt. Sundar Prasad and Pt Shambhu Maharaj and soon he imbibed and mastered all the creative and practical aspects of this unique dance from. He also has a fascile pen, out of which many highly acclaimed works have comeout to prove the oceanic depth of his knowledge as well as highly creative and percetive mind. He was awarded doctorate in music for his famous dessertation on origin and development of Kathak dance and also Ph.D. degree for his, illustrious work on Sanskrit Dramaturagy and its relationship with Kalidasa's Plays. Choreography of more than a hundred dance- dramas goes to his credit. Groomed by legends of literature like Padma Bhushan Shivmangal Singh 'Suman' and Shri Shrinivas Rath, Dr Puru Dadheech has written infinite number of compositions in many rare taals and unexplored subjects for Kathak, making Kathak literature strong and wide. Thus he rightfully claim that in theory and practice both, he is a vertueso. For his contribution in the field of Kathak he had been honoured with many Awards and Titles like the fourth highest civilian award of India, The Padma Shri, India's highest national award to a performing artist, The Sangeet Natak Akademi award, MP Government's Shikhar Samman, Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi award, etc. After retirement from the chair of the department of dance at the world famed Bhatkhande College of Hindustani music, Lucknow and as Dean of dance department at Khairagarh University, at present he is running Natavari Kathak Nritya Academy at Indore, M.P and also heading as the Director of world's first dedicated Kathak Research Centre at the Sri Sri University, Cuttak.

Kathak is one of the prominent classical dance styles of India, which is getting popularity throughout the world now a days. In many of the countries regular classes of Kathak dance are being conducted and in a good number students of these classes are appearing in various dance examinations. But the bigest prob lem before the foreign students of Kathak dance is scarcity of any text book in their subject. Though there are so many standard works on Indian classical dance are available in English but they don't follow any course of study in the respective field. In the year 1993 and 1994 I had chances to visit U.K. as an examiner in Kathak dance, appointed by Prayag Sangit Samiti, Allahabad of their ex- amination centre named Pt. Ram Sahai Sangit Mahavidyalaya, London, which is being run by famous Table-wizard of Benaras School Pt. Sharda Sahai and his able disciple Dr. Frances - Shep- herd. There I could see the problem closely. Many of the students and teachers, who were acquainted with my Kathak Nritya Shiksha in two parts, insisted me to write such a book in English according the syllabus of Kathak dance. I sincerely promised them and the result is in your hands.

This book covers the theoritical and practical courses of studies titled junior and Senior Diplomas of Prayag Sangit Samiti, Allahabad, Praveshika and Madhyama Courses of A.B.. Gandharva Mahavidylaya Mandal, Bombay and Prarambhik and Sangit Bhushan Courses of Prachin Kala Keudra, Chandigarh. It is also useful for the Kathak student's of High School, Intermediate and B.A. standards of various Indian Boards and Universities.

I pay my gratitutes to all the authors on Indian dance whose work helped me in writing this book. I am also thankful to- my wife Nritya Shringar Dr. Vibha Dadheech for her discussions and inspirations. My special thanks to Mr. Sanjay Charate for bearing all the responsiblities of printing this book.

I will feel my labour fruitful if this work may fulfil requirement of the beginers of Kathak dance to some extend.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages