The word Kathak is derived from the word katha, meaning story. The ancient Kathakas, or story-tellers, were traveling bards who used this dance form to communicate their tales to the masses. Stories from the Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, were performed through mime, instrumental and vocal music, drama, and most importantly, Kathak. Temple audiences used Kathak as a part of the daily tradition of religious worship.

During the Moghul Rule, dancers were enticed from the temples to the courts by gifts of gold and jewels. Patronage soared as a social class of dancers and courtiers emerged in the royal palaces and was changed to suit the purpose of entertainment. During the era of fervent worship of Radha-Krishna, Kathak was used to narrate tales from their lives. Popular performances included Shri Krishna’s exploits in Vrindavan, and tales of Krishna’s childhood.

Many specific emperors contributed to the growth and development of Kathak into different gharanas, or schools of dance, named after the cities in which they developed, like the Lucknow gharana, emphasizing sensuous, expressive emotion and the Jaipur Gharana, which became renowned for highly intricate and complex footwork, and fast, sharp, and accurate dancing.

Today, Kathak is recognised as one of the seven classical dance forms of India. The influence of theatre dance has presented itself in the movement towards dance productions of stories such as Shakuntala. Expressive motion, rhythmic accuracy, graceful turning, poised stances, technical clarity, hand gestures (mudras) and subtle expression (bhava-abhinaya) are important components of modern Kathak. The work of the Maharaj family of dancers (Acchan Maharaj, Shambhu Maharaj, Lachhu Maharaj and one of the greatest current dancers still alive today, Birju Maharaj) has been extremely successful in spreading the popularity of Kathak. The structure of a conventional Kathak performance tends to follow a progression in tempo from slow to fast, ending with a dramatic climax. A short danced composition is known as a 'tukra', a longer one as a 'tora'). There are also compositions consisting solely of footwork