Revered Bay Area-based dancer and educator Chitresh Das, master performer of the North Indian classical dance movement Kathak, died of an aortic dissection Sunday in Marin County. He was 70.
Chitresh Das, influential Kathak dancer and educator, dies
Born in Kolkata in 1944, Das brought his lifelong study of Indian dance to the United States in the 1970s, starting the Chhandam School of Kathak to instruct a younger generation in the semi-narrative art of Kathak. Chhandam now has ten branches and and estimated enrollment of 550 students.
He was a well-known and influential figure in the Bay Area Indian dance scene, as both a teacher and perfomer, and is credited with forming the first university Kathak course at San Francisco State University.
He is also remembered as a extraordinary entertainer and storyteller:
