Reviews :: Tour Dates :: Artist Biographies :: Photos/Video :: Technical Specifications :: Booking/Inquiries


"Alone, they're captivating. Together, they're magic."
- Allan Ulrich, Voice of Dance

INDIA JAZZ SUITES (also called Fastest Feet in Rhythm), featuring Pandit Chitresh Das and Jason Samuels Smith, is an explosive collaboration between one of India’s foremost Kathak masters and one of the world’s fastest, Emmy-award winning tap dancers. The result is high entertainment which crosses all boundaries of age, race and culture — a blast of incredible speed and power, grace and beauty, epic storytelling and the pure joy of dance.

After premiering in San Francisco in 2005, INDIA JAZZ
SUITES has received extensive critical acclaim and has
toured around the U.S. and India. It was chosen as
the #1 Dance Performance of 2005 by the San Francisco
Chronicle and won the prestigous Isadora Duncan Dance
Award (Izzie) for Best Ensemble Performance of the year.

Reviews
The Asian Age - India, 2010
Write-up by a presenter in Honolulu - 2009
The Telegraph - Calcutta, India, 2007
American Dance Festival, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle, #1 Dance Performance of 2005
Voice of Dance, 2005
Preview, The Times of India, 2008
Preview, San Francisco Chronicle, 2005

Tour Dates

2010
January 2 - Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, India
January 29 - National Center for Performing Arts, Mumbai, India
January 30 - Shaniwarwada Festival, Pune, India
January 31 - UB City Ampitheatre, Bangalore, India
March 20 - Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, California
May 1 & 2 - Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Boston, MA
May 8 - Egyptian Theater, Ogden, Utah
May 21 - Wortham Center, Houston, Texas

Past Tours
2009
January 18 - National Center for Performing Arts, Mumbai, India
January 19 - Charity Performance for Seva Sadan, Mumbai, India
January 20 - Luxury Fest, Turk Club, Mumbai
January 24 - 50th Anniversary Festival, IIT Kharagpur, India
January 30 - Birla Sabhaghar, Kolkata, India
March 14 - Leeward Community College, Oahu, Hawaii
March 19 - Maui Arts and Cultural Center, Maui, Hawaii
March 21 - Kahilu Theater, Waimea, Big Island, Hawaii
April 3 - Kirkland Center, Washington

2008
January 18 & 20 - Mumbai Festival, Mumbai, India
January 23 - US Consulate 50th Anniversary, Mumbai, India
February 14 & 15 - Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
August 23 & 24 - National Folk Festival, Bangor, Maine
December 21 - Mood Indigo Festival, IIT Mumbai, India

2007
October 13 & 14 - National Folk Festival, Richmond, Virginia
October 12 - Denver University Convocation, Denver, Colorado
October 10 & 11 - Lakewood Cultural Center, Denver, Colorado
October 4 - CSU Monterey Bay World Theater
January 29 - Kolkata Consulate/American Center, India (LecDem)
January 28 - Birla Sabhagar, Kolkata, India
January 25 - Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi, India
January 24 - New Delhi Embassy/American Center (LecDem)
January 20 - Calcutta Club, Kolkata, India
January 8 - Mumbai Consulate/American Center, India (LecDem)
January 6 - Mumbai, India

2006
December 3 - La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, Los Angeles, California
November 18 & 19 - Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Chicago, Illinois
November 17 - The Egg, Albany, New York
November 15 - Parc International, Lafayette, Louisiana (Workshop and Performance)
November 9-12 - New Orleans, Louisiana (Workshops and LecDems at local schools)
June 15-17 - American Dance Festival, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

Download Artist Biographies
Pandit Chitresh Das (.doc)
Jason Samuels Smith (.doc)

Photos/Video



Performance Photos by Marty Sohl
For high resolution photos, email darlene@kathak.org

View photos from India tour 2010
View Performance and Outreach Activities' Photos from Louisiana


Excerpt of India Jazz Suites Premiere in San Francisco, 2005


Technical Specifications
Contact darlene@kathak.org for technical rider

Booking Inquiries
For booking information in North America, contact Cathy Pruzan, 415-789-5051, cpruzan@aol.com
For booking information in India and internationally, contact Seema Mehta, 011-91-9952403711, seema@kathak.org

What the Press says

“India Jazz Suites called for a standing ovation and the audience rose to the occasion, en masse, and clapped till their hands were sore.” –The Hindustan Times, India

“ Pandit Das and Smith ... got on top, beneath, around and even inside the rhythm and took the audience along in an amazing performance that had the Page Auditorium audience on its feet.” –Herald Sun, American Dance Festival

“ Both of them traditionalists, both of them innovators, they brought the house down.” –Dance View Times, Rita Felciano

“ A performer who has opened new avenues for his form, it is easy to see why Das has been acknowledged as a phenomenon.” –The Hindustan Times, Kathakali Jana

“Possibly the next greatest.” –Gregory Hines on Jason Samuels Smith