Sitara Devi

The video is a Kathak performance by the legendary classical dancer, Sitara Devi. In the video She performs a dance piece, related to the festival of Holi, one of her most well-known repertoires. Sitara Devi (1920-2014) also known as ‘Kathak Queen’ was born in Kolkata. Her father was a Kathak performer and teacher and he played a crucial role in reforming the art of Kathak from a popular dance form associated with nautch girls and boys to classical respectability. He taught his daughters and sons Kathak. She studied under the three great masters of the Lucknow gharana- Achchan Maharaj, Lachhu Maharaj and Shambhu Maharaj. She was given the epithet, Nritya Samragni (Empress of Dance) at the age of sixteen by Rabindranath Tagore after he watched her performance in Santiniketan