Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra

Born in Baroda, on 29 February 1960, to Mohan Khokar and M.K. Saroja, Ashish Khokar learnt Kathak from Kundanlal Gangani and Bharatanatyam from Swarna Saraswathy's disciple Shanta Raghavan and Krishna Kumar. Ram Gopal was a major influence. After post-graduation in history from the University of Delhi, he served as a cultural administrator at the Sahitya Kala Parishad; the Festival of India in France, Sweden, Germany and China; and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). He also worked for Martand Singh Consultants and undertook India Promotions in China, France and Italy. A grantee of the Swedish Institute in arts administration, he was awarded a Government of India fellowship to research on the pioneers of Indian dance. As an author and photographer, he has undertaken several titles (Dance, Textiles, Crafts, Krishna, Indian Images, Jaipur, Ganesha, Khajuraho and Hindu Gods) for the Classic India series of Rupa & Co. He has also written a biography of Baba Allauddin Khan for Roli books. He has scripted, curated, hosted television shows, notable among which is Taal-Mel, a serial on dance commissioned by national television. As a regular writer on the arts, he has contributed to several publications, such as the India Magazine, The Week, The Hindustan Times group, Indrama, Elite, Life Positive and Diplomatic Corps. He is a regular art columnist for the First City magazine and Spic Macay's The Eye. He served The Times of India as its dance critic based in New Delhi for almost a decade, and now lives in Madras working on the organisation of the Dance Research Repository of India, based on the Mohan Khokar Dance Collection. He is married to Betsy Huffman Hall.