Kathak dancer Amit Khinchi believes that pursuing a career in a field of our liking allows us to enjoy our work and our journey.

Amit Khinchi is a Kathak dancer and the founder of Samantaa Dance Company. He hails from Delhi. He has been carrying forward the legacy of his family for the past 20 years.

Recalling his childhood, Amit says that being from a family of music and dance, he got his roots from the beginning. His grandfather, Pandit Naval Kishore, started giving him musical training in childhood.He started taking dance training from his father. His father always encouraged him to balance both art and studies.

Sharing a memory from his childhood, Amit says that when he was very young and found it difficult to play the big harmonium, his grandfather made a special small harmonium for him. His family always encouraged him to perform at family gatherings, giving him public performance experience from an early age.

Kathak was introduced in his life at a tender age, when he initially started his dance practice with his father, Shri Ghanshyam Khinchi. He later took admission at the Kathak Kendra and trained under the guidance of Pt. Rajendra Gangani. He received a Post-Diploma in Kathak. He had also learned various arts of music like how to play the pakhawaj and also vocal music. During his student journey at the Kathak Kendra, he participated in various programs where he also learned to sing and hone his stage performance.

Amit has been fortunate enough to have received the rare opportunities to work with maestros like Padmabhushan Shri Birju Maharaj ji, Kumudni Lakhia, Kishan Mohan, Geetanjali Lal, Rajendra Gangani and many more. He has also availed the opportunity to work with the repertoire of Kathak Kendra. In 2010, he also worked with Aditi Mangaldas’s “Drishtikon” Dance Foundation.

Amit stayed in South Korea at the ICCR, to teach dance for three years.

Sharing his mistakes, Amit says that mistakes tell us that if we do not stop, then we go so far on the wrong path that it is difficult to return. He recalls the final presentation of his post diploma in dance, when due to his hard work and riyaz he had secured the first position among all the students of the institute, but started feeling that he was the best. For this reason, he did not work hard for his convocation performance, due to which his dance performance could not win the hearts of the people and faced a lot of criticism. But he did not give up and focused on his riyaz after learning from his mistakes. That mistake made him not only a practitioner but also a thinker and a creator.

Speaking about his achievements, Amit says that his most memorable achievement was when he joined Drishtikone – a dance company led by Aditi Mangaldas, a renowned Kathak exponent. He considers his second achievement to be performing in the Kamani Auditorium which was his dream. In the same way, he got the opportunity to perform in Natwar Gopi Kishan ji's dance program, and there he was honored with the title of his name.

When asked about his role models, Amit says that, first of all he considers his grandfather, then his father, and all the gurus as his role models. When he joined the Approach Dance Company, he was inspired by the dance of Aditi Mangaldas.

Amit loves to play cricket in his free time. He also likes to read books to get the idea for his new creation in dance.

Amit’s life mantra is - “Keep working hard and make yourself as capable as possible because you can create your own journey and write your own success."