Prashant Shah, one of the senior disciples of Legendary Kathak exponent Guru Padma Vibhushan Late Smt. Kumudini Lakhia, is a critically acclaimed male teacher-performer-choreographer now based both, in India and in the New York, USA. Prashant’s virtuosity in Kathak enables him to perform a vast repertoire with masculine grace stripped of flowery affectation and makes him one of the outstanding male dancers of his genre today.
He is also the first recipient (for Kathak dance) of Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Yuva Puraskar award established by the President of India in the name of legendary musician, Ustad Bismillah Khan. Prashant is a TOP grade artiste at ‘Doordarshan Kendra – New Delhi’ and an empaneled artiste in the established category of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi. Prashant has performed in more than 40 countries and is often commissioned internationally to work with other dance styles like Hip Hop, Belly Dancing, Flamenco, Bharatanatyam, Modern and Contemporary dance, he has received rave reviews in newspapers such as the Hindu, Statesman, New York Times, Star Ledger, Guardian, Independent, San Francisco Chronicle, and Dancing Times. Prashant has performed solo dance evenings at prestigious dance festivals in India like Krishna Gana Sabha - Chennai, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival - Bhubaneshwar, NCPA - Mumbai, IIC - New Delhi, Bharat Bhawan,- Bhopal where his performances were appreciated by both critics and connoisseurs.

Prashant feels honored to be a part of advisory boards for few dance festivals, organizations, and dance institutions. At the same time, Prashant feels happy to head Kathak departments of few prestigious dance institutions in the USA and guide numerous academies in Kathak programme. Prashant is regularly commissioned for various choreographic projects by various dance practitioners in North America and around the globe.

As a Choreographer

Prashant is one of the few acclaimed Kathak dancers to benefit from his guru Padma Bhushan Kumudini Lakhia’s system which involves rigorous technical training while also encouraging to use dance as a mode of self-expression to scratch beyond the surface of technique. As a choreographer, his highly developed awareness of space and its possibilities of exploring it visually in Kathak dance form along, with his own traditional and contemporary ideas, drives him to work with various dancers of other classical dance styles abroad and choreograph innovative dance numbers. He has choreographed number of projects in the USA, U.K., Europe, and other parts of the world.

Prashant Shah and Dancers

Since past few years, Prashant has started his own performing unit-company in the USA namely PRASHANT SHAH AND DANCERS. In this journey, several aspiring Kathak dancers and students who are already trained by renowned gurus learn under him for advanced training on regular basis and are now part of his company. In addition, Prashant also feels happy to have students from cities like New York, New Jersey, Raleigh, Chicago, Dallas, Boston, Los Angeles, and many more as part of his company. His newly formed company has performed at major international dance festivals like New York Kathak Festival, Diwali at Times Square – New York, in Chicago, in Barcelona, in Switzerland, in San Diego and in many more cities.