Pragya Dasgupta Dasgupta, a Gold Medalist 1992 of Bihar and “Sangit Praveen” from Prayag Sangit Samiti,Allahabad has started her Kathak journey at a early age of 3 years under the guidance of Dr. Nagendra Mohini in Lucknow Gharana Style. After completing her Masters in Economics from Ranchi University, Ranchi, she devoted herself to dance and continued her learning under Nrityabilash. Suchandra Banerjee at “The Nupur Dance Academy “ , Kolkata and later found herself fortunate enough to get trained directly from “Nritya Shiromoni” Guru Bandana Sen . Pragya also had her training in choreography (which includes basic training in three major classical dances Bharatnatyam, Kathakali and Manipuri) for a 5 year span under the tutelage of Sukhdev Mukherjee, disciple of Guru Moni Bardhan of Kolkata.
She has participated in various Kathak recitals choreographed and directed by Guru Bandana Sen. Apart from dancing under Guru Bandana Sen , Pragya also has participated at many prestigious programs in Bihar, Kolkata , Delhi and USA. Some of those are All India Women Folk Dance Carnival organized by Northern India Folk and Art Society , Bihar Inter College Kathak contest, Kolkata Doordarshan , NABC(1999) , USA Television - Comcast . Pragya has been invited as a representative of Indian Classical dance in the International Dance Festival by SanDisk ,USA and demonstrated the fine skills of Kathak . Recently she was invited to judge the Boogie Woogie competition of Northern California. She gets invitations from schools like Challenger , Montessori etc. to lecture-demonstrate Kathak towards bringing the awareness and enrich the young stars with Inadian culture and heritage.
Pragya is the founder and cultural director of “TARANA” – A Kathak Dance Center , providing training to both children and adults in Kathak, folk dances and Rabindra Nritya for last 6 years. Pragya’s talent as a choreographer, director , performer and educator has helped in making many shows a great success. Pragya works continuously towards bringing the awareness and enrich the young stars with Inadian culture and heritage through the art of Kathak.