Rani Karnaa is an Indian classical dancer, known for her proficiency in the Indian dance form of Kathak, and regarded by many as one of the greatest exponents of the art form. She was honoured by the Government of India, in 2014, by bestowing on her the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her services to the field of dance. She was born in 1939 in Hyderabad, Sindh, British India. Kathak was her first love and she received training in Kathak from eminent gurus, namely Late. Nrityacharya Narayan Prasad, Late. Sundar Prasad and Pandit Birju Maharaj. She not only learnt Kathak but also pursued and developed her art with an unusual sense of aesthetic adventure. She evolved her own style which was a beautiful synthesis of the Jaipur and Lucknow Gharanas. Her compositions are also aesthetically delightful combinations of Sahitya, Sangita and Abhinaya. Rani has travelled widely and taken her love for Kathak beyond the frontiers of India to the U.K., Russia and many European and East Asian countries. Each of her performances, she modestly agrees, has been received with applause. She established a dance academy, Samskritiki Shreyaskar, 1995, and also guides the Sangeet and Nritya Sikshan Bharati, a division of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kolkata. She is also the founder and the first director of Calcutta School of Music and worked there from 1978 till 1993. She established the dance division of Aurobindo Bhavan, Kolkata, by name, Ahana and headed the department from 1980 to 1987.