Chitresh Das, a teacher and performer who widely disseminated the north Indian classical dance form kathak in the United States, died on Jan. 4 in San Rafael, Calif. He was 70.
The cause was acute aortic dissection, a tear in the inner wall of the aorta, said Rachna Nivas, the director of the Chhandam School of Kathak, which Mr. Das founded in San Rafael in 1980.
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He is survived by his wife, Celine; his daughters, Shivaranjani and Saadhvi Das; and his brother, Ritesh.
Mr. Das was consistent in his belief that kathak could evolve while retaining its essential characteristics. In 2005 he collaborated with the virtuoso tap dancer Jason Samuels Smith on the show “India Jazz Suites,” which toured the United States, Australia and India, and was captured on film in the documentary “Upaj: Improvise,” shown last year on PBS. Mr. Das also collaborated with the flamenco dancer Antonio Hidalgo Paz on the show “Yatra: Journey From India to Spain,” which explored the shared roots of the two dance forms. It had its premiere this past September in San Francisco.
