Mahua is disciple of the legendary figure of Indian classical dance, Padma Vibhushan Pandit Birju Maharaj, Mahua started learning dance at the age of five. Her father, the late Shri Pradeep Shankar, and her mother, Smt. Rekha Shankar, were her first gurus. Mahua was also trained under guru Smt. Reba Vidhyarthi and Smt. Vaswati Mishra. Awarded with the “Shringar Mani” 2007 from Sur Shringar Samsad – Mumbai .Mahua Shankar has danced, to great acclaim, in several prestigious festivals. As a young dancer, she has also had the distinction of performing in Rashtrapati Bhavan, before the then President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Have performed with Pandit Birju Maharaj in his major productions in many prestigious festivals and has travelled extensively in India and abroad. Has to her credit dance sequences in two major films, “Gaddar” with Sunny Deol and Amisha Patel and “Devdas” with Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit.
Kathak is one of the classical dance styles of India. It is a characterized by fast footwork (tatkar), spins (chakkar) and expression (abhinaya). Kathak has a long history having been influenced first by the narratives by kathakas or ancient bards, and subsequently by temple dances, the bhakti movement, and then by the Mughal and later courts from the 16th century onwards.
