Instructors

Rinku Bhattacharya Das was initiated to the world of Kathak dance by her mother Smt Mallika Bhattacharya disciple of Guru Acchan Maharajji and Guru Laxminarayanji of Gunijankahana Jaipur. 

Ever since winning the prestigious Indian national dance scholarship from West Bengal Governor B.D. Pande at age 5 she continued her  training from Smt Bela Arnab (Dean of Kathak dance Rabindra Bharati University). She broadened her understanding of Indian Classical Dance forms by receiving rigorous training in Manipuri Dance from Guru Bipin Singh, Kalavati Devi and Padmashri Darshana Jhaveri. She was introduced to the world of contemporary dance by renowned Manipuri and Contemporary Dance artiste Sri Sanjib Bhattacharya.  

As a solo and a performing artiste in both classical and contemporary art forms she has performed in various prestigious dance programmes and festivals of India and USA. She is currently the Director of Nrityajyoti Dance Academy, North Carolina, USA which is devoted to the dissemination, training and promotion of the classical as well as contemporary performing arts based on Guru Shishya tradition and helps in promoting them internationally. 

April has over 20 years of dance experience. She was trained in Ballet, Tap & Jazz but switched to learning Indian dance after seeing Bollywood movies 5 years ago. She first learned Kathak in India from her Guru Indrayani Kulkarni. For the past 2 years, April has been learning Kathak, Bollywood and Folk dances from Rinku B. Das and performing at various events in North Carolina, including the recent dance stage show “Classic Bollywood.” April has been assisting Rinku Ji as a teacher for a year & now choreographs original dances.