Born into Kathak, Gauri Sharma Tripathi's link with the art of Kathak goes back to her guru, her mother, Padma Sharma, a disciple of Lachu Maharaj. The world is Gauri's stage and she is carrying the message of Kathak and Indian culture abroad.

One of her earliest memories is that of eating roti with salt at Guru Lachu Mharaj's house, when she was three. A graduate from Sophia College, Mumbai, Indians all over the world recognize her for her role as Urvashi in the TV serial Mahabharata.

She was a movement director in Escapade, an Indian extravaganza organized on the banks of the Thames, at the Royal Festival Hall in London in August '03. Almost 4,000 people assembled to see 120 dancers perform to Indian music outside these festival halls in a unique outdoor event. Taking India and its strong culture to different parts of the world is Gauri's lifelong project.

A few years back she choreographed "Ramanujan", an opera in five acts commissioned by the city of Munich. Here Gauri played the part of Namgiri, a goddess from Ramanujan's village. " It was wonderful to see the Germans applaud and accept one of our greatest minds. It made me proud to be a part of the performance'.

Her 52-episode with Star TV, Junglee Toofan Tyre Puncture based on Sesame Street, is now on air in the UK. In London, she claims she has two lives - a social one and one with artists. "We Indians have so much in our culture to offer the west. We can offer flexibility within the gambit. It is like kantha embroidery which uses different threads woven on a rigid platform which is the western culture."

Does she get criticized for incorporating kathak into the western genre? "No, because I haven't moved away from the traditional dance. For instance, I performed pure abhinaya in Munich for the opera. Only the language was different. I was clearly able to articulate my voice and culture without tainting it. Honesty in dance reflects in your performance."

Gauri as India's ambassador of kathak, never seems to stop. In 1999 and again in 2002, she was invited to perform at Westminster Abbey for the celebration of the Commonwealth Observance Day, in the presence of the Queen of England. At the reception at Buckingham palace to celebrate the event, the Queen and Prince Charles are said to have expressed an interest in seeing the 'gurukul' where this art form is born. This is the first time that Indian classical dance was ever performed at the Abbey. She also recently performed at the Elephanta festival in India, and worked with a group of artists (she being the only Indian selected) at the House of Cultures in Berlin.

Gauri's company ANKH recently toured India and performed at the Kathak Kendra Mahotsav in honour of Pandit Lacchu Maharaj. This was one of the few occasions when some of the dancers in her troupe were from the UK, a sure sign of reverse brain drain .