Manasi Dandekar is a post-graduate in Kathak Dance from the prestigious Lalit Kala Kendra affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University. She has been fortunate to have studied under the guidance of Guru Pandita Rohini Bhate and Guru Amala Shekhar. In her career of 25 years, Manasi has enthralled audiences with her performances in various prominent dance festivals in Indian cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Nashik and Pune. Under Cultural Exchange Program she visited France, where she performed and conducted Interactive sessions with the French students about Indian Classical Dance and Indian Culture. She has choreographed various ballets and fusions with several other Indian dance styles. She is a certified artist of All India Radio, Pune.
Janhavi Junnarkar is a Kathak dance scholar and has reached to the platform of Kathak Visharad from Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya under the eminent guidance of Guru Manasi Dandekar. She is learning Kathak since she was 9 years old and has colossally performed solo as well as in troupe on all the prestigious platforms in Pune.
`Kathak Vilas’– A Historical Journey of Kathak. Depicts different shades of traditional as well as the contemporary content through Kathak. It is a collage of compositions and showcases different shades and variety of Kathak.
There are three stages in the history of Kathak. The Mandir Era, the Darbar Era, and Modern Post Independence Era. Manasi Dandekar has choreographed the ‘Kathak Vilas’ in such a way that audience will experience the changes in dance style during the journey of Kathak.