Ines Smiljanic DANCER | DELHI NCR

*Ines Smiljanic* was born in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia and from her earliest childhood she has been in love with the art of dancing. She started her dance journey at the very tender age of five in rhythmic and dance gymnastic, and a few years later, during her primary school education she started training different forms of dancing, classical ballet and contemporary dance. Ines Smiljanic is young and perspective dancer of Kathak, a dance form of Nothern India. Having strong roots in contemporary dance and classical ballet, she naturally puts emphasis on the dance technique, presenting traditional and authentic kathak, characterised with intricate footwork and fast spins. Her charm enriched performance, graceful expressions beautiful lines, reflect the beauty of the Lucknow gharana of kathak. She started learning kathak in *2005*, and in *2007* she was accepted to Kalashram academy, Dance Institute, to study under a world renowned teacher and choreographer, the great Kathak legend Padmavibhushan *Pandit Birju Maharaj*, in New D elhi, India. In *2012* she was awarded a scholarship from the *Indian Council For Cultural Relations (ICCR)* to pursue her dance training at the *National Institute of Kathak Dance, KATHAK KENDRA*, which is the premier dance institution in India in the field of dance education and one of the leading training institutions for Kathak dance. She has been granted the ICCR scholarship for all the five years of her stuidies and completed three years of Honours and two years of Post graduation Course under the tutelage of Guru Jai Kishan Maharaj. She has intensively been performing and had the opportunity to present kathak at various music and dance festivals in India and abroad. Aside from kathak, Ines also studied tabla (indian traditional drum), Indian classical vocal techniques and yoga for which she holds certificate from *Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan*.