The Coalition for Indian Music and Dance is a non-profit organization of artists and friends dedicated to presenting the arts the art forms which have become our way of life, Classical North Indian Music, Kathak Dance, Bharat Natyam, Odissi Dance and more. These classical arts have an ancient history and require many years of study to perfect. But it is the process of study, the continual learning and practice which inform and enrich our lives as much or more than the occasions of performance.

Our hopes include helping to establish a wider understanding, acceptance and enjoyment of these traditional arts in the west. Founded in the fall of 1996, we have presented more than 30 concerts, often with established artists from India as well as numerous classes and workshops in the past four and a half years. Our teachers came from India to establish training centers here in the Bay Area and we have been the fortunate recipients of their many years of diligent effort. Travel to India for further studies or for the opportunity of undistracted intensive study has also been a part of the learning process across the years.

Now more than forty years after Ali Akbar Khan, the founder of the Ali Akbar College of Music, came to the west to teach and perform there is a large community of artists, proficient in these classical forms, contributing to the artistic life of the Northern California Bay Area and in many other parts of the United States and Canada. Khansaab has been joined in the west by many of India's foremost artists in the fields of music and dance. The Coalition remains the effort of a small, but dedicated group of performers producing concerts, lectures and classes to further the pioneering efforts of the great masters who have shared the knowledge and technique that guide us along this chosen path. We welcome your participation, contributions and attendance in the coming year.