A pioneer Kathak dancer in North America, Chitresh Das opened the first Kathak dance programme at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Raphael, California.  Here he created three major dance dramas with over forty musicians and dancers. In 1980, he founded his own school and dance company: Chhandam. Chitresh is on the faculty at San Francisco State University, where he initiated the first Kathak curriculum in North America.

        Chitresh was raised in his parents' dance school, Nrittya Bharati, a center of cultural activity in Calcutta visited by dancers, musicians, poets, authors, and philosophers. Chitresh began studying dance at age nine with Pandit Ram Narayan Mishra in Calcutta. His performing career was launched in India when he was invited by sitarist Ravi Shankar to perform in his first Rimpa Festival in Varanasi. He received a Whitney Fellowship in 1970 through the University of Maryland, where he began to teach Kathak while he also studied modern dance. In the '70s, he came to  California at the request of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan to teach Kathak dance.  Mr. Das was given the high honors of teaching at the West Bengal Government's State Academy in Calcutta and of representing West Bengal in performances throughout India. 

Even after taking up residence in USA, Mr. Das continues to visit India regularly, performing in many prestigious festivals including Kerala Fine Arts in Cochin, Surya Festival, Kathak Kendra, and the Dover Lane Music Conference, to name a few. Das wants people, especially those from other cultures, to see this form of Indian dance.