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Born in the family of hereditary dancers, Birju Maharaj is the torch-bearer of the famous family, Kalka-Bindadin Gharana of Lucknow, which has been serving the art of Kathak dance through centuries. Not only in India, he is known all over the world. He has extensively traveled in Russia, USA, Japan, UAE, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Burma, Ceylon etc. for performances as well as lecture demonstrations. Besides being a superb dancer, he is also gifted with a number of other qualities which add to his artistic career. He is a wonderful singer, a superb drummer, a poet, composer and painter. He has given a new dimension to Kathak, by experimenting this technique in the application of dance dramas, which has today become a very successful medium for mass propagation. A measure of his genius is the fact that at the young age of 28 years, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademy Award. He is also a recipient of the country’s second highest civilian award – Padma Vibhushan, besides several other prestigious awards like – Kalidas Samman, Nritya Choodamani, Andhra Ratna and Soviet Land Nehru Award. He has also been conferred with the Honorary Doctorate degrees from BHU and Khairagarh University. He is widely acclaimed not only as a performer but also as an inspiring ‘Guru’, having successfully trained numerous students in India and abroad.