Chitresh Das Dance Company -

Remembering Jaiwanti Das Pamnani
1964-2007

Jaiwanti Das-Pamnani was born Jaiwanti Das on October 16, 1964 in Suva, Fiji to Chimanlal V. Das and Gulabben Das and was the elder of twin sisters, the younger being Khushwanti Das.

In Fiji she and her sister studied folk and classical dance forms at the Indian Cultural Center and performed along with her sister for the Prince of Wales when he came to Fiji 1977 for the Queen Elizabeth II in 1978.

In 1978 the Das family moved from Fiji to Hawaii. Jaiwanti earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Hawaii. In 1982 the Das family relocated to Stockton, CA where Jaiwanti earned her doctor of Pharmacy degree at University of the Pacific School of Pharmacy. The Das family then moved to Sacramento in 1987 and finally to San Bruno in 1989.

Jaiwanti met the love of her life, Jagdish Pamnani in 1992 and they married in March 1993 and their daughter, Vanaaisha Gouri Pamnani, was born on August 8, 1996.

Jaiwanti began studying with renowned Kathak maestro Pandit Chitresh Das in 1991, became a member of the Chitresh Das Dance Company in 1995 and a principal dancer in 1998. She was one of the first dancers of Indian origin outside of India to establish a successful career as a Kathak dancer and a traditional soloist. She performed throughout the United States and toured numerous times in India. In 2004 she performed at the American Dance Festival along with Pandit Das. She also performed in 2000 at the International Arts Festival in Denpasar, Bali and in the UK.

Jaiwanti was nominated, along with the Chitresh Das Dance Company, by the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards in 2003 and 2006 for best Ensemble Performance and was part of the cast of East as Center, which featured Pandit Chitresh Das along with guest master artists Guru Govindan Kutty (Kathakali master) and Ni Ketut Arini (Balinese dance master), which won award for Outstanding Production from the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards in 2004. She also received a Master-Apprentice grant along with her Guruji from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts.

Jaiwanti became an official shishya of Pandit Chitresh Das in 2001 in a gandabandhan ceremony in Kolkata, India. An India West review of her full length traditional solo in 2001 said: “There is a split-second moment in time when Jaiwanti Pamnani is dancing Kathak that you get the feeling that she has transcended all dimensions of space and time to attain a level that no adjective can describe but that all artists can understand…Pamnani’s interplay with Das and the musicians was artistic expression at its best—the way each artists tested the artistic boundaries of the other was a thrilling manifestation of the very spirit of jugalbandi, and of Kathak itself.”

In 2004 she became the Director of the Chitresh Das Youth Company (CDYC), assisting Pandit Chitresh Das in their training and learning of the history, philosophy and mathematics of Kathak dance and the Indian culture from which it comes. CDYC is a groundbreaking program providing professional level training to youth from ages 9-18. She further developed CDYC with the enrichment program, which expanded members’ training to the areas of teaching and community service through dance.

Jaiwanti’s performance opened the historical Kathak at the Crossroads, International Festival and Symposium at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and her last performances was with the Chitresh Das Dance Company and Pandit Chitresh Das in Los Angeles on December 3, 2006.

Jaiwanti passed away on February 26, 2007.