Pooja Pant singing and performing 'the thumri' in the 'baithaki' style of kathak

A performer, choreographer and Founder-Director of Pooja Pant Dance Company, Pooja started learning Kathak under the esteemed guidance of Guru Smt. Rajashree Shirke at the age of four. After training for 15 years she took guidance from Pandit Arjun Mishra from Lucknow and has travelled across India and the world to perform at various festivals. Known for her technical finesse, delicate abhinaya and adherence to the form, she is the first Indian classical dancer to have performed at the Lawrence Olivier Awards in London and has acquired many accolades for her performance in the musical ‘Beyond Bollywood’ which premiered at the London Palladium and has completed over 100 shows through Europe. She has been awarded prestigious awards namely the ‘Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar‘ award, `Menaka’ trophy, Singaar Mani’ and Gold medal at the National level. Having completed her Diploma in Dance from SNDT university and Masters in Kathak from Tilak Maharashtra University, she has been teaching at her institute ‘Pooja Pant School of Kathak' and has also explored the scope of Kathak in theatre by choreographing and performing in plays directed by various stalwarts like Chetan Datar, Chaitanya Tamhane, Neeraj Kabi, Atul Tiwari, Shaili Sathyu among many.

The Company:
Pooja Pant Dance Company is a young company founded in 2016 working with an objective to explore, innovate and experiment with the traditional technique of kathak through solo, ensemble and collaborative works. Its first production ‘Tehreek’ is a full length ensemble Kathak presentation in nritta and Abhinaya. Its most recent work ‘Play store’, a kathak piece on age old board games and mobile games, is an attempt to bring together tradition and popular culture. With the kathak technique at its core, the company also attempts to find unique collaborations with other art forms which can create an innovative voice. Collaborations with different art forms like beat boxing and magic in short choreographic pieces, ‘Sound of Cooking’ and ‘Delight’, served as a foundation to define its philosophy.