PAPER 4

Detail Study Of , Girls, Nritta, , Different Gharana-s, Present Status, Institutions, Artists

Module 28 Kathak Dance Festivals

Dance festivals have been part of Indian culturalscape since times when any religious festival like Sankranti, Holi, Navaratri, Durga Puja, Dashera, and Diwali are being celebrated. It was a spontaneous and easy coming together of music, mime and movement that Indians are given to thanks, in no small measure, to our abundant folk and tribal forms. Here we cite some dances performed on festive occasions.

Ruf is performed by Kashmiri women on festive and religious occasions. Bacha Nagma is performed by boys dressed as girls and reflects the influence of the Kathak style. This ceremonial form is commonly performed at weddings. Nati is a dance of Kulu, a region well known for its smiling people and miles of apple orchards. During the Dussehra festival, idols of Raghunathji are brought from different shrines to the Kulu valley and much singing and dancing takes place. The dance of Punjab is a robust one performed by men and Gidda is its female version. Kikli is a part of the Gidda and the festival of Teeyan which welcomes the rains is the principal occasion for this folk dance. In Madhya Pradesh, Jawara is the harvest dance

1

of the Bundelkhand region and Morni celebrates the advent of the seasons, especially rain and spring. Raas Leela is a popular dance drama of the Braj region of Uttar Pradesh. Pre-pubescent boys dress up as gopis and swarm and dance around the lead dancer playing Krishna. This evergreen group dance is staged throughout the year, especially at Janmashtami to observe Krishna’s birthday.1

Garba is the most popular and frequently performed folk dance of Gujarat. It takes place during Navratri, for nine nights in autumn. The tenth night is celebrated as Dasehra. The Ras which celebrates the love dance of the gopis with Radha and Krishna is also performed during Navaratri. When the dancers carry sticks and clank while sweeping past each other, the form is called Dandiya Ras and is very much in vogue today as a community get-together. Bihar’s Brindabani is performed during Chaitra Parva, the week-long festival marking the onset of spring. Jatra Ghat, Kalika Ghat and Garia Ghat are all forms of folk dance associated with Chaitra Parva. Nian Pata, Kanta Pata and Jhula Pata are versions of the Chaitra Parva festivities in Orissa. Bihu of Assam is a part of the Bohag Bihu festival that is observed in mid-April when harvesting is under way. While most of these folk and tribal dances take place in the open, some dances call for a special setting like a temple or props of totemic value.2

In Karnataka, Karaga is a ritual dance and Pooja Kunitha is a sacred dance performed only by priests of local temples. It

2

involves balancing a large wooden idol on the head and dancing to the accompaniment of a drum. In Kerala, Kaikottikali is performed by women to celebrate the Onam festival. In Tamil Nadu, Kolattam is a dance for all seasons and events and is performed by women. In the style, women clap their hands while dancing in a circle. In Pinnal Kolattam, colorful ribbons are suspended from a pole or a high point and dancers braid and unbraid the ribbons while they dance.3 Nowadays, many of these forms are being kept alive with special folk art festivals and inviting groups to perform on the proscenium as part of mainstream festivals. In fact, Guru Gangadhar Pradhan Konark Dance and Music Festival that takes place every February at Konark Natya Mandap, concludes every evening with one folk dance form of Orissa.

In 1927, a personable young Indian lady in London, Leila Sokhey, met the famous ballerina Anna Pavlova and bemoaned that though she had been very keen on learning dancing in she could not make any headway. Leila Sokhey was none other than Madame Menaka, a name she assumed when she returned to India and took to dance full time and created a school in Bombay. Prior to Independence, the pioneering works of Madame Menaka in the Khandala-Bombay belt and Ram Gopal in Bangalore helped streamline Kathak presentations on the professional stage. They had no great learning in the form but were born dancers and thus culled from tradition and presented small short items that reflected the beauty and glory of this form far away from their setting or provenance!

3

Damayanti Joshi was her adopted daughter since Leila and Col. Sokhey had no children. Menaka’s interest in dance led her to devote a lifetime to dance and thus, thanks to her, Kathak got entrenched in Bombay. Lots of gurus, including Mohanrao Kalyanpurkar among others, got a foothold to teach Kathak to Bombay girls, largely due to the space and patronage afforded by Madame Menaka in Bombay and later at Khandala.4

Ram Gopal was India’s first truly international level, classical dancer. In his statuesque body and poses, sat very well, although by his own admission “my left side is Bharatanatyam and the right side is and in my legs are Kathak.” He was trained in all three principal styles in vogue then (Orissi had not even been “discovered” until 1954 or officially established until 1958). He was trained by Guru Jailal and Sohanlal in Kathak. Ram was one of the first to team up with women dancers like Tara Chaudhri, Shevanti, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Retna Mohini-Bresson, M.K. Saroja and later with Kathak dancers like Kumudini Lakhia. He created travelling dance companies the likes of which the world, especially Europe, had not seen although he gave credit for his inspiration to the other light of his times, Uday Shankar, whose example had preceded Ram’s by a decade. Feted and fawned upon, he was like an Indian god come alive. Ram Gopal’s magic lasted far beyond his few active dancing years. He performed in some of best-known theatres of the world. He also immortalized himself through two films made on him: Aum Shiva and Ram by the famous French filmmaker Lamorisse.5

4

Post-Independence, Kathak was being revived and special efforts were made to bring stalwarts to cities like Delhi and Bombay to teach the form, in order to revive its diminished fortunes. Thus, Achchan and Shambhu Maharaj taught the Lucknow style in Delhi which Lachchu Maharaj taught in Bombay. Jaipur style also was brought by Narayan Prasad and Sundar Prasad and taught in Delhi and Bombay. Students of these great gurus then took the dance forward by taking it to next generation and thus the art continued and so did the guru shishya parampara.

Achchan Maharaj ('s father) being elder, learnt the most from Bindadin, and thus imparted further training to Shambhu and Lachchu. Shambhu Maharaj made his debut in 1926, at the All India Music Conference in Lucknow (those days these music conferences were the few major platforms where dance was showcased) and was awarded a gold medal for his tayari. The Lucknow gharana has always laid stress on bhava. Both Bindadin and Achchan Maharaj were gifted with a phenomenal capacity to evoke and project emotion and feelings in both dancing and singing. In Shambhu Maharaj's case, he derived all his taste and inspiration from Nasir Khan of Delhi gharana; he was his bosom friend. In fact, Shambhu Maharaj seldom performed Bindadin thumris as he mostly preferred Nasir Khan’s poems. Shambhu Maharaj is on record stating that most (that's how he and that generation of dancers called themselves, Kathaks not Kathakaars) performed Bindadin’s thumris because they were suited for rendering in

5

moderate tempo, while Shambhu Maharaj did not find them conducive to the leisurely development of bhava. It was too hurried. Shambhu Maharaj devised the courtly style of sitting and performing.6

Thus, in next generation in Delhi, Birju Maharaj taught many. Mohanrao Kalyanpurkar settled in Bombay, then Pune, then Lucknow and also taught many. Being trained in both Jaipur and Lucknow styles, he had a firm understanding of the dance form. At a time when women taking up dancing was not looked upon favorably, Sukhdev Maharaj of Nepal-Banaras took the brave step of teaching dance to his daughters Tara, Sitara Devi, Alokananda who took the art from Banaras to Bombay. Others like Madame Menaka’s adopted daughter Damayanti Joshi and music family born Roshan Kumari learnt and propagated the dance form in western India. East India, centered in Kolkata, benefited from the presence of Sadhona Bose, Uday Shankar and others who followed in their footsteps. Thus, each decade and two, a generation of Kathakars rolled by and furthered the art form.

We then had Uma Sharma, Maya Rao, Kumudini Lakhia take the form further having learnt from different masters, sometimes from more than one style, as was case with Maya Rao and Kumudini. It was common in the post-Independence generation to absorb maximum tutelage, as Kathak was fighting for identity and resurrection, having fallen on bad days under colonial rule, when it was dubbed Nautch.

6

In the early years following Independence, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, organized 4 seminars, in which dance was given the last priority. The first National Seminar was organized in 1955 on Film, the second in 1956 on Drama, the third on Music in 1957 and the fourth and last on Dance in 1958. Apart from speakers and dancers of other dance forms, Mohanrao Kalyanpurkar, A.C. Pandeya and D.G. Vyas and Mohan Khokar spoke/read papers on Kathak while the seminar was inaugurated with a performance by Shambhu Maharaj. Roshan Kumari and Birju Maharaj were the other two Kathak performers.7

It was only when a sizable mass of exponents was thus trained that a body mass, a consolidation of sorts in Kathak was achieved. It was then that a national body like the Sangeet Natak Akademi under Mohan Khokar’s term, who was also Director of Kathak Kendra, had the idea of presenting all Kathak dancers of certain standards and quality on a common platform in early 1970s.

Soon, the Bharatiya Kala Kendra, where the Kathak Kendra was housed, started showcasing Kathak talents and by mid 1970s, an annual festival of young and established exponents of Kathak got crystallized in Delhi. This was more in nature of showcasing how each ward of a prime guru fared or how art was passed down from teacher to the taught. Thus, at these festivals names like Shovana Narayan and Urmila Nagar were discovered and

7

platformed as coming-of-age dancers.

The Kathak Mahotsava in the 1980s was an outcome of this and from here it was rechristened Kalka Bindadin Festival, showcasing students and talents of the Kendra and some invited proponents from other important cities where Kathak was being projected and taught like Kolkata, Lucknow, Jaipur and Bombay-Pune. Kalka Bindadin Festival and Sharad Chandrika Festival focused on group and solo performances respectively. They also provided a common platform for dancers from both Lucknow and Jaipur gharanas to allow the mingling of ideas and facilitate innovations. In such festivals names like Veronique Azan, Aditi Mangaldas and Malathi Shyam were plat- formed, symbolizing the coming-of-age of young talent.

Since its very inception, the students of the Kathak Kendra have been fortunate to have some of the legendary masters as their gurus such as Lachchhu Maharaj, Shambhu Maharaj, Sundar Prasad, Kundanlal Gangani, Mohanrao Kalyanpurkar, Birju Maharaj, Durga Lal, Munna Shukla, Reba Vidyarthi, Urmila Nagar, Kumudini Lakhia, Siddeshwari Devi and Naina Devi. At present Krishan Mohan Mishra, Rajendra Kumar Gangani, Jai Kishan Maharaj, Prerana Shrimali, Malti Shyam, Nirmal Mondal and Upadhyay are faculty members of Kathak Kendra.8

The coming of Khajuraho festivals and such like circuits, which were not one-form-specific, was the precursor to more site-

8

specific festivals. Many other states followed the Khajuraho Dance Festival model, like Ajanta-Ellora Festival in Maharashtra, then Ganesh Mahotsav in Pune, Gateway in Bombay, and Matia Burj, Kolkata. These festivals then crystallized into site-specific festivals like at Agra by Taj Mahal or Surajkund in Haryana by Tourism Boards and committees. Konark Dance and Music Festival at the Konark temple, Elephanta Festival off Mumbai, Hampi Festival and Pattadakkal Festival in Karnataka, Mamallapuram Festival off Chennai, Modhera Festival in Gujarat, Qutb Festival in Delhi, are all conducted by the ASI and Culture Departments of various states. All these festivals have a representation of all our classical dance forms including Kathak. Soon Kathak became an indispensable fare and part of every dance festival since the 1990s.

Individuals like the Mumbai-based Kathak dancer Uma Dogra conducts the annual Pt. Durgalal Festival in February and Raindrops Festival in July, where she also features dancers of other styles. Bhavanubhav Kathak Samaroh is organized by Bharat Bhavan Centre in Bhopal. Festival also takes place there. Birju Maharaj’s Kalashram presents Vasantotsava Festival in February. Jaipur’s Kathak Kendra presents Kathak Samaroh, its major annual attraction. It is conceptualized to interface between the in-house Kathak dancers and troupes of other institutions as well. This event provides a platform to budding talents and also gives them opportunity to witness performances of acclaimed artistes across the country. Kathak Darshan Charitable Trust of Jagdish Gangani, son of the

9

legendary traditional Kathak guru Sundarlal Gangani of Jaipur gharana, presents its annual Kathak Nritya Sangeet Mahotsav in Baroda.

NCPA includes Kathak in its annual festivals. Kathak performers are featured in Natyanjali festivals across Tamil Nadu, Kapaleeswara temple festivals in Chennai, Gudiya Sambrahma festival where performances are held across various temples in Bangalore, Kala Ghoda Festival in Mumbai, Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival in Bhubaneswar, Bhagyachandra Festival in Imphal, Delhi International Arts Festival, Bangalore International Arts Festival, Soorya Festival in Trivandrum, Naada Bindu Festival at Kolwan near Pune, to name a few. Important annual conferences like Natya Kala Conference and Natya Darshan in Chennai feature Kathak dancers as speakers and performers.

Kathak has traversed a huge distance in just 50 years. Anila Sinha Foundation in Illinois organized the first International Kathak Festival in 2004 and the 2nd International Kathak Festival in October 2009 providing a great opportunity for the younger generation of Kathak artists and students. Its third edition, another 3-day Kathak extravaganza featuring world renowned Kathak artists and scholars, took place in September 2014.

Deeply devoted to preservation and promotion of Kathak, Chitresh Das presented the first International Kathak festival

10

and symposium in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2006. It was the largest Kathak festival ever to take place outside of India. The mayor of San Francisco inaugurated the event, proclaiming September 28, 2006 as Kathak Day. Many dancers, icons of Kathak, critics, scholars, students and lovers of Kathak from around the world came to celebrate and contemplate this diverse, complex and compelling art form and it was scholar-oriented. In 2010, ‘Traditions Engaged: Dance, Drama, Rhythm’ at Los Angeles was solely devoted to practitioners to bring the best master artistes together to talk about their work and perform.

Over the last 33 years, Centre for has trained hundreds of British-born young people in Kathak dance who have performed for various events and festivals at prestigious venues in the UK and internationally. Held on 29th June 2000, the first National Kathak Conference in Leicester was co-organized by CICD with Leicester City Council and Leicester Arts in Education. Attended by a large number of academics, arts officers, performers, teachers and dance students, this conference provided a unique opportunity for those involved at all levels of South Asian dance development to discuss various topical and long-running issues related to Kathak dance in the UK. In particular, the conference was intended to consider the past, present and future direction of Kathak dance teaching in the UK within the wider context of dance developments and to increase the academic profile of South Asian dance in the UK by addressing the deficit of discussion in this field. Furthermore,

11

the conference sought to provide a platform for young dancers and dance practitioners to participate in the discussions and voice their opinions.9

The Naad Festival of Kathak Dance took place on June 11 and 12, 2010 in London in memory of Pt. Jailal, well known Kathak exponent and doyen of the Jaipur gharana. The event featured more than 20 dancers from the Jaipur, Lucknow and Benaras gharanas. Such a dance festival in its pure classical form was happening for the first time in UK. Some of the dancers who participated were Sarita Kalele, Sonia Sabri, Sujata Banerjee, Abhay Shankar Mishra, Saberi Misra, Mukti Shri, Kajal Sharma and Pratap Pawar.

The annual IAAC’s Erasing Borders: Festival of Indian Dance in New York, the Alchemy Festival, London and the Milap fest in Birmingham, all feature Kathak as part of their programmes.

The purpose of these festivals is not merely to celebrate but also give many dancers a chance to dance. In 50 years there are thousands of Kathak dancers and each one is now looking for avenues to reach out and win more audiences and students. Thus, many unique and new dance festivals have come up in the last decade, where dance can be projected, be it be Food Festival or Fashion. Flash dance is something one has heard of and here too Kathak wins audiences easily, as many have been exposed to film, where Kathak as a form has been widely accepted and platformed over the last 75 years.

12

Special globally celebrated days like World Dance Day too platforms many dancers and gives them a chance to be seen. In Bangalore WDD alone, Kathak dancers from Chennai, Pune or Bombay are featured! Imagine a form has gone so far where there is no cultural connection like in Chennai. Even in rigid Pakistan, WDD celebration in 2015 was organized by Kathak exponent Seema Khermani.

Festivals are also being undertaken by dance talents in Universities, like at Baroda (Parul Shah) and Pune (Sucheta Bhide and Shama Bhate). Banaras now mounts its own Kathak Festival by the Ganges, courtesy U.P Tourism, taking a leaf from Agra model. The Agra model was itself based on the Khajuraho or SNA model and thus we see good ideas travel.

Thus, Kathak dance and its projection has reached an all time high which makes it neigh impossible for future generations not to follow up. Time alone will tell where this plat forming leads too but it certainly has made Kathak the most learnt style in north, central and western India.

13