My Guru

Guru Kundan Lal Gangani, one of the leading exponent and gurus of Jaipur Gharana of Kathak, was born in Sujangarh, Distt. Churu, Rajasthan in the year of 1926. Son of Shri Ganeshi Lalji, he was trained by his maternal uncle the celebrated Kathak Guru Shri Narayan Prasad.

He started public performance at an early age of merely 8 years. At the age of eleven, he has performed in the royal court of Raigarh. He also danced in Khairagarh, Allahabad, Mumbai, Pune, Baroda, Kanpur and Jaipur. His last public performance was at Jodhpur in 1960. He turned form then onwards exclusively to teaching. He lived and taught in many centers namely Mumbai, Rajkot, Baroda, Jodhpur and Delhi.

Guru Kundan Lal gave equal importance to the lasya and the tandava ang of dance and, therefore, he also gave emphasis on abhinaya.

He innovated in performing 'chalan' and 'qayada' as footwork and introduced 'chhanda' at the onset of every thumri. He firmly believed in Kathak as a solo dance and always strived in his training to produce, above all, solo performers. He was a brilliant tabla player as well.

Some of his well-known disciples are Urmila Nagar, Vishnupriya Pawar, Shakuntala Nayar, Shobha Kausar, Shashi Sankhla, Rajendra Gangani, Prerana Shrimali, Debora Smith (USA), Kimikhiyano (Japan) and Nazma (USA).

He joined Kathak Kendra in 1970 as a Guru and taught here till he breathed his last on 16th July 1984.