SUNDAR KALA KENDRA KATHAK DANCE SCHOOL

Study Pure Classical Kathak Dance from the most renowned and distinguished award-winning Kathak Dance Master in the US of over 40 years, Guru Anjani Ambegaokar. Anjani Ambegaokar has been bestowed a National U.S. Treasure as recorded in the Library of Congress by receiving the highest honor in traditional arts as the first Indian Dancer in the U.S.A. as the recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship Award of the [NEA] National Endowements for the Arts Lifetime Achievement award given by President George Bush in 2004 for her pioneering work in Classical Kathak Dance. Anjani Ambegaokar is responsible for training generations of Kathak dance students in the US ranging in the thousands for over the past 40 years as Artistic Director, Choreographer, Educator, Founder and Dancer. Anjaniji is trained in Kathak by Guru Pandit Sundarlaljee Gangani of Jaipur Gharana from India and holds an MA in Kathak dance from M.S. University of Baroda, India. For the past 70 years Anjani has dedicated her heart and soul to the excellence, preservation, and continuation of Classical Kathak Dance in the U.S.A. and internationally. With 8 Grants awarded to Sundar Kala Kendra 5 NEA Grants for Choreography for her dance company Anjani's Kathak Dance of India Anjani was invited as a lead choreographer for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ash- land, Oregon, 2008 season play ‘The Clay Cart’ and guest choreographer for Cirque Du Soleil ‘s Dralion production. Anjaniji is awarded multiple choreography fellow- ships from the National Endowment for the Arts consistently for the past 20 years, the California Arts Council, the Irvine Foundation Dance Maker’s Grant, the City of Los Angeles, and Illinois Arts Council. Anjani has performed extensively as a solo. New classes starting at Diamond Bar, Artesia, Irvine and San Fernando Valley.