Saddened to hear news of the departure from Planet Earth of the great San Francisco-based Kathak dancer, Pandit Chitresh Das, whose brilliant cultural ambassadorship for his native art form extended to a eye (and brain)-popping performance at Grand Performances last September.
[arts·meme loved and reviewed the show here]
We also saw Chitresh hit the floorboards, hard, again with dance mate Jason Samuels Smith, in a surprise appearance at Dance Camera West in the spring, concurrent to screening the marvelous documentary, Upaj: Improvise. Film is (now) must viewing.
Leaving behind a gaping, aching hole that can never be filled, a dance warrior, nothing less: Pandit Chitresh Das.
Details courtesy of NBC News, here.
Photo of Pandit Chitresh Das, at Wajid Ali Shah’s Bara Imambara in Lucknow (January 2010).
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Thank you for this comment, Janice Sternberg, author of “The Tin Horse.” http://www.thetinhorse.com/ Cheers, Debra L.
Debra, thanks for sharing this news and the wonderful video. I saw him perform at ADF in 2004, on the same program with Jason Samuels Smith – Festival of the Feet – although they hadn’t started performing together at that time. What a fierce, commanding presence.