Manjari Chaturvedi

Classical Indian Kathak Dancer, Director & Choreographer, TedX Speaker, Cultural Academic, Creator of Sufi Kathak and Restorer of Dance of Courtesans, President, Sufi Kathak Foundation

About Manjari

Manjari Chaturvedi, the leading exponent of classical dance in India for the last 25 years, is an unusual dancer, she has blazed her own path, that no one traversed earlier, in the field of performing arts with her work on spirituality and dance. She has taken the traditional form of Kathak and has created her own style, her own brand of dance Sufi Kathak. Her productions as a dancer are projects that are meticulously researched, documented, as she first studies the original traditions and then finds her own artistic expression of the subject and that expression is always unique, as never seen before, as she pours her heart and soul into the dance. Manjari has extensively worked on gender sensitive subjects through her medium of dance, exploring the many traditions woven into poetry, music and dance. She re‐lives traditions in a modern context, at times re‐living an era that has been lost to time and creating that ecstatic dance of mystical surrender. A danseuse representing Lucknow gharana of Kathak and postgraduate in Environmental Sciences, Manjari embodies her performance art bridging the gap between tradition and modernity.

Gurus & Mentors

• Manjari is trained in classical Kathak by Guru Late Pandit Arjun Mishra from 1995‐2002
• She has developed the detailing of abhinaya (expressions) under Late Smt. Kalanidhi Narayan and Smt. Priyadarshini Govind 2004 ‐ 2006
• She has worked at Nrityagaram in association with Guru Late Protima Bedi and Guru Kumudini Lakhia 1997‐1998
• She has worked on the Sufi traditions with Shri Muzaffar Ali in 4 films 1998 to 2002 and as a part of the Sufi Festival “Jahan‐e‐Khusrau” at New Delhi and London from 2001 to 2005, 2011, 2020
• She has worked on Sufi music traditions of Punjab with Shri Madan Gopal Singh
• She has worked on the music & lives of women performers with academicians & authors Late Shri Pran Nevile, Shri Saleem Kidwai and Shri A N Sharma. From 2014 till present

Awards & Distinctions

• Manjari Chaturvedi is an empanelled artist with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, India
• In recognition for her pioneering work on Sufi Kathak she has been awarded with Awadh Samman in 2009 , from Uttar Pradesh, India
• Nomination for the civilian award Padama Shree in 2011
• Nomination for the civilian ‘Communal Harmony Award’ in 2012 for her exemplary work towards Sufi Kathak which bring together the two prominent religious thoughts through dance
• Women Achiever Award in 2013, by YFLO, The Young FICCI Ladies Organization
• She has been a part of the first Sufi Symposium at the prestigious Smithsonian Museum, Washington D.C.
• She was a part of the conference on Living heritage by UNESCO
• She is two time Jury and member of “Think Tank on Asian dance” for the prestigious Asian Dance Committee in Korea, on the international panel of 16 experts from all over Asia representing Indian dance at the Asian Dance Committee, Korea

As a pioneer of this form of art, Sufi Kathak is essentially a study in history–before her interpretation, the poems in Sufism were only sung, never danced to. Through years of practice, Sufi Kathak has crystallized into a form of its own; within it resides a melodious blend of Kathak and Sufism. In the modern world, Sufi Kathak transcends all forms of religion and gender, and is a reflection of the need to pause and look within in these rushed, modern times. In its essence, Sufi Kathak combines the movements and rhythm of Indian classical dance with the mysticism of Sufism. Both traditions, Kathak and Sufism, have a long history in the Indian subcontinent and beyond. Sufi Kathak has been an enduring and ever‐evolving form of classical dance since 1998. More than two decades on, Manjari Chaturvedi keeps working on finessing this art form she created.

Manjari has extensively performed in Europe (France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, U.K. & Ireland, Armenia, Georgia), the Middle East (Dubai, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Kuwait), South East Asia (Singapore, Malaysia) Asia (Thailand, Bangladesh, SriLanka) and Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan), Australia and America. Listed below are some of the prestigious venues in these countries…

• Symphony Space, New York City
• Judith Wright Centre For Performing Arts, Brisbane
• National Gallery Of Victoria, Australia
• Elphinston Theatre, Colombo
• National Theatre, Dhaka
• Jagatjit Palace, Kapurthala
• Qila Mubarak, Patiala
• National Centre for Performance Art, Mumbai
• India International Centre, New Delhi
• India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
• The Royal Opera House, Mumbai
• Chowmahalla Palace, Hyderabad
• Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi
• Parliament House, New Delhi
• Purana Qila, New Delhi
• Jagmandir Island Palace, Udaipur
• Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur, India
• Amaan-E-Bagh, Rajasthan
• Rambagh Palace, Jaipur
• Lotus Temple, New Delhi
• Qutb Minar, New Delhi
• Mehrangarh Fort Jodhpur

• Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC
• Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, London
• Sydney Opera House, Australia
• Doha Theatre, Doha
• Elephanta Caves, Mumbai
• Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, New Delhi
• Murshidabad Hazarduari Palace, Bengal
• Neemrana Fort, Rajasthan
• Devigarh Fort, Udaipur
• Kalaghoda, Mumbai
• Arab Ki Sarai, New Delhi
• Jagmandir Island Palace, Udaipur
• Khajuraho Temple, Madhya Pradesh
• Janana Mahal, Udaipur
• Amber Fort, Jaipur
• Red Fort, New Delhi
• Fatehpur Sikri, Agra
• Humayun’s Tomb, New Delhi
• Holkar Palace, Maheshwar
• The Taj Mahal, Agra
• Dilkusha Palace, Lucknow
• Townhall, Kolkata

Performance collaboration with more than 200 Indian musicians of different genres as Qawwali, Sufi Music, Manganiars, Kashmiri Sufi Music and with a wide range of international artists in Global Fusion Series with

• Tim Ries (Saxophone, Rolling Stones, USA)
• Tau iq Quereshi (India)
• Rekha Bharadwaj (Vocals, India)
• Kevin Hays (Piano, USA)
• Rahim Al Hajj ( Oudh,Iraq)
• Firas Shahrstan (Qanun, Syria)
• Nurul Hasan
• Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan
• Kamal Khan
• Ikram Khan
• Aamir Khan
• Khurshid
• Amaan Ali
• Israr-ul- Hasan
• Bashar Hasan
• Arshad Hussain
• Haider Bux
• Ghulam Zilani
• Amin Khan
• Bakshe Khan
• Bhugde Khan
• Roje Khan
• Roshan Khan
• Sadiq Khan
• Ahmad Khan Warsi
• Saeed Sabri
• Farid Sabri
• Wais Nawaz
• Rafi
• Raees Ahmed
• Ghulam Raool
• Hamid Hussain
• Khalid Hussain
• Shahzaad Raseed
• Zaki Ali
• Zakir All
• Shazib Khan
• Sheikh Farooq Hussain
• Chhakkan Khan
• Abbal Khan
• Ajmeri Khan
• Lace Wajahac Hussain
• Ghulam Hassan
• Gul Faraz Hussain
• Abbas Khan
• Ajmeri Khan
• Late Wajahat Hussain
• Ghulam Hassan
• Mohammad Adil
• Ghulam Qadir

• Ustad Shujaat Hussain Khan (Sitar, India)
• Kailash Kher (India)
• Radhika Chopra ( Vocals, India)
• Dhaffer Yoseuf(Oudh, Vocals, Tunisia)
• Patrick Possey (Saxophone, USA)
• Micheal Glenn (Bass, USA)
• Pedram Derakshani ( Santoor, Iran)
• Ejaz ul Hasan
• Anwar khan
• Saleem Ahmed
• Anwar All
• Sibte Hasan
• Siamak Nasr
• Mumtaz Ali
• Zarina Begam
• Kafeel Hussain
• Anwar
• Siddiqui
• Tariq
• Gul Faraz Hussain
• Asif Hussain
• Fayaz
• Mian Azeem Ahmad
• Muazzam All Khan
• Rizwan All Khan Rahat Ali
• Imdad Hussain
• Mushtiaq Firoz
• Zafar Ali
• Muhammad AourangZaib
• Bashir Ahmad
• Tariq Ghulam Abbas
• Zubair All Khan
• Dharam Nath Mishra
• Vinod Mishra
• Anjali Narayan
• Arun Bhatt
• Navin Mishra
• Vikas Mishra
• Kanak Chaturvedi
• Suman Dubey
• Pedram Derakhshani
• Sattar Khan
• Gauram Khan
• Mammey Khan
• Rawat Khan
• Ashish Mishra
• Kumud Diwan
• Syed Zia Alvi
• Arnir
• Ghulam All
• Manzar

• Reza Abaee ( Kamaycha, Iran)
• Ali Rahimi (Daff, Percussion, Iran)
• All Rabi
• Rehan
• Ghulam Nabi Namtahalli
• Sawan Khan
• Amjad Ali
• Samandar Khan
• Sabri Brothers
• Raees Khan
• Shiraz Ali
• Faraz Ali
• Ghazi Ali
• Fateh Ali
• Arshad
• Reza Abaee
• Salman
• Shenshah Hussain
• Adil Hussain Khan
• Reza Karfar
• Taju Khan
• Naseer Ahmed Khan
• Nazeer Ahmed Khan
• Jabbar Ahmed
• Syed Habib
• Murtaza Warsi
• Amjad Warsi
• Asad Warsi
• Azeer Warsi
• Meraz Ahmed Nizami
• Sumit Mishra
• Shephali Frost
• Mohit Lal
• Rohit Anand
• Uday Bhawalkar
• Vipin
• Pratap
• Nancy Kaur
• Fazil Hussain Khan
• Shoukat Hussain Khan
• Shaik Dawood
• Abid Khan
• Janab Arshad Husain Chishty
• Khurshid Hussain
• Shehansha Husain
• Shchzad Ali Husain
• Rehan
• Hasnain
• Chand babu
• Md tariq
• Janab Shabhi