PAPER 4

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

Module 32 Kathak In Diaspora

India and its tradition of arts and culture in the present scenario is not only confined within the four walls of the country but has effectively succeeded in promulgating worldwide. Emphasizing on beauty, significance, aesthetics and originality, the various forms of Indian music, dance and theatre are widely known for its purity and the ability to mesmerize and spellbind the audiences. Scientifically it has been proven that certain vibrations, sound, body movements, exercises have help to cure at acute ailments and mental disorders. How is it possible? The answer to this question has motivated many to find the connection with music, art and dance thereby eventually succeeding with the implementation of finest therapies with the help of the above forms. Dance is the art of the movement of the body and the liberation of the soul and mind. If we are talking about the rich classical heritage of , Rabindranath Tagore was the first to conceptualize Indian Modern Dance and was the first to apply it. Under his charismatic influence Indian dance burst on the global stage with his spectacular oriental dance which captivated western audiences. His dramatization of Kathakali especially established the fame of . Hardly a traditionalist himself, Uday Shankar however popularized the tradition of Indian Classical Dance as he

1 knew it and prepared western audiences to understand the evolution of classical dance forms that were derived from temple dancing. Kathak is today a thriving, globalized contemporary dance that can be studied all over the world wherever the Indian Diaspora has settled. Kathak can be experienced even more widely through touring professional productions that highlight the multiple manifestations of Kathak dance today from traditional to innovative to cross-cultural performances. Its syncretic past and hybrid character, gives Kathak its vibrancy, creativity and ability to sustain itself in today’s transnational world. Kathak is identified as a classical dance that comprises at least eight style links with various regions and traditions, all commanding respected position on today’s concert stage. Though its style is largely associated with North India, it is today an international artistic genre made up of a multiplicity of repertoire items. It is presented in fusion numbers with other dances and lends itself easily and creatively to experimental choreography exploring current themes as it is accompanied by contemporary music, mathematical calculations combined with lighting-fast footwork and spins to explore tricky patterns with off beat, cross rhythms and surprise endings. Equally characteristic of Kathak however are graceful gestures, expressive use of the eyes and mimetic sequences. Kathak also lays claim to ancient rules via its genesis as a temple dance or religious storytelling method and many dancers both in India and in the diaspora will explain their art forms in it purest stage as a devotional activity.

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These inherent dichotomies (mathematics or meditation – ancient or innovative) are a central part of Kathak’s character and they manifest themselves in multiple ways. Clearly this is one of the reasons that the dance lends itself so well to fusion and experiments, but this also seems to have created of fueled a kind of identity crises among its exponents. In the present scenario many Kathak dancers are successfully promoting this cultural heritage with or without government schemes or grants across the world. For the noble work of preserving this art, accolades must go to the stalwart Pt. Birju Maharaj, the leading exponent of the Kalka-Bindadin gharana of Kathak-dance. He took Kathak to a new height by choreographing Kathak dance dramas. He is also the founder of 'Kalashram/कऱाश्रम'. He has toured extensively around the globe, given thousands of performances and held hundreds of workshops for Kathak students. He is also the guru of many famous Kathak dancers worldwide who are practicing this dance form. Apart from Pt. Birju Maharaj, there are many worthy disciples of renowned Kathak Gurus efficiently working with traditional Kathak as well as experimenting by fusing Kathak with multidisciplinary subjects, thereby accomplishing new heights and dimensions for Kathak across the world. Following is the list of such worthy exponents who have done much to spread Kathak across the world: 1. Kumudini Lakhia Kumudini Lakhia is based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and is the founder- director of Kadamb/कद륍ब School of Dance and Music. A pioneer in contemporary dance, she is credited for moving away from the solo form of traditional Kathak starting in the 1960s, by turning it into a

3 group presentation, and also introducing innovations like contemporary storylines, often philosophical and abstract, into the Kathak repertoire. She also introduced new designs for costumes that added a strong visual flavor to the basic Kathak movements. She started her career dancing with Ramgopal as he toured the West, taking Indian dance abroad for the first time, and then became a dancer and choreographer in her own right. Some of her most famous choreographies include Dhabkar/धबकार (Pulse), Yugal/युगऱ (The Duet), Atah Kim/अतः ककम, (Where to now?), Okha Haran/ओखा

हरन, Hun Nari/ह ूँ नारी , Golden Chains (for Neena Gupta, London), Feathered Cloth, Hagoromo/हगोरोमो, Mushti/मुश्ठी. She has also collaborated with lots of other choreographers. Kathak dancers Aditi Mangaldas, Vaishali Trivedi, Daksha Sheth, Sanjukta Wagh, Prashant Shah, Sanjukta Sinha and Parul Shah are some of the worldwide famous disciple of her. She was also the Cornell visiting professor of Swarthmore College for the 2013-2013 academic year.

2. Chitresh Das (1944 – 2015) Chitresh Das was a Kathak classical dancer. Born in Calcutta, Das was a performer, choreographer, composer and educator. He was instrumental in bringing Kathak to the US and is credited with having firmly established Kathak amongst the Indian diaspora in America. Chitresh Das went to the United States in 1970 on a Whitney Fellowship to teach Kathak at the University of Maryland. In 1971, he was invited by Ustad to the San Francisco Bay Area to teach Kathak and establish a dance program at the Ali Akbar College of Music (AACM) in San Rafael, California. In 1979, he left the AACM

4 faculty to form his own dance school called Chhandam/छंदनम School of Kathak; his "Chitresh Das Dance Company" (CDDC) was incorporated in 1980. In 1984 Das was selected to perform in the Olympic Arts Festival during the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Other select American performances include the Lincoln Center (1988), International Kathak festival in Chicago (2004), American Dance Festival (2004, 2006), and the American Folk festival (2008). In 1988, Das formed the first university accredited Kathak course in the US at San Francisco State University; several current dancers of CDDC began studying with Das in the SFSU program. Das was also a guest faculty member at Stanford University. Chhandam has continued to grow with branches in San Francisco, Fremont/Union City, Berkeley, Mountain View, San Jose, Sacramento, and Los Angeles. His disciples, Joanna De Souza and Gretchen Hayden have established branches of Chhandam in Toronto (1990) and Boston (1992), respectively. Chhandam currently has 550 students enrolled at branches across North America. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Chitresh Das and his Dance Company have been a mainstay of the local dance season and his company's home season has included such masterpieces as Gold Rush (1990), Sadhana (1991), East as Center (2003), and his most recent award winning collaboration with tap dancer, Jason Samuels Smith, IJS: India Jazz Suites (2005 to present). The original IJS collaboration was selected as the number one dance performance of 2005 by the San Francisco Chronicle as well as receiving the Isadora Duncan Ensemble of the year award (2005). Since IJS has toured extensively, including four tours to India, performances across America, including Hawaii, and Australia.

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In 2002, he founded Chhandam Nritya Bharati in India. With over ten branches of Chhandam worldwide, Das taught dance as a way of life, a path for attaining self-knowledge and as a service to society. He performed and taught around the world, frequently touring India, North America and Europe. He was well-known for his virtuosic footwork, rhythmic adeptness, compelling storytelling, as well as his own innovation of “Kathak Yoga”.

3. Akram Khan Akram Khan was born in Wimbledon, London, England into a family from Dhaka, Bangladesh. He began dancing and trained in the classical South Asian dance form of Kathak at the age of seven. He studied with Pratap Pawar, later becoming his disciple. He began his stage career at the age of 13, when he was cast in Peter Brook's Shakespeare Company production of Mahabharata, touring the world between 1987 and 1989 and appearing in the televised version of the play broadcast in 1988.[1] Following later studies in Contemporary Dance at De Montfort University and Performing Arts at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and a period working with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Brussels based X-Group project, he began presenting solo performances of his work in the 1990s. In August 2000, he launched Akram Khan Company. His first full-length work Kaash, a collaboration with Anish Kapoor and Nitin Sawhney, was performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 2002. As choreographer- in-residence and later associate artiste at the Southbank Centre, he presented a recital with Birju Maharaj and Pratap Pawar; and A God of Small Tales, a piece for mature women for which he collaborated with writer Hanif Kureishi. He was associate artiste at

6 the Southbank Centre until April 2005, the first non-musician to be afforded this status, and is currently an associate artiste at Sadler's Wells Theatre. He was awarded Member of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2005 New Year Honours for his services to dance. In 2008, he co-starred with Juliette Binoche in a dance-drama piece called in-i at the Royal National Theatre, London. In summer 2006, Khan was invited by Kylie Minogue to choreograph a section of her Showgirl concert. Khan appeared as a huge projection behind the singer as she performed. The songs were set in an Indian temple scenario, inspired by a trip Minogue made to Sri Lanka. He has made pieces for the Ballet Boyz and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan. Akram Khan Company performed Vertical Road at Curve, Theatre, Leicester in November 2010, and at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. Live music was provided by Emile Sande singing 'Abide with Me'.

4. Aditi Mangaldas Aditi Mangaldas is a renowned Kathak dancer and choreographer, who works with the traditional repertoire of Kathak. A disciple of Kumudini Lakhiya and Pt. Birju Maharaj, she is artistic director and principal dancer in her own organization, The Drishtikon/饃ष्टिकोण Dance Foundation. She has performed in major dance festivals in India and had been featured in the Festivals of India in UK, USA and the Soviet Union. With a number of Solo items, she has also choreographed a several group ensembles that have an arresting blend of traditional and contemporary styles. The Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company with its troupe of 6 dancers and 3 musicians made its US debut at the Asia Society with Footprints on Water. Her well-

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Vistar/ववस्तार, The Sound of the Universe, Vrindakriti/वꅍृ दकृ तत, etc. She has also conducted workshops and presented papers at dance seminars worldwide. 6. Manjari Chaturvedi Manjari Chaturvedi trained initially in the gharana of Kathak under the guidance of Arjun . She also learnt abhinaya under Kalanidhi Narayan at Protima Bedi’s Nrityagram. She closely studied Baba Bulleh Shah’s contribution to Punjabi Sufi traditions and has been influenced by Mawlana Rumi and Amir Khusro as well. Chaturvedi began her career as a Kathak dancer. She has attempted at building an interface of her dance with diverse forms like the music of Rajasthan, Kashmir, Awadh, Punjab, Turkmenistan, Iran and Krygistan. She is particularly drawn to Sufi mysticism and has endeavored to incorporate such movements in her performances that are reminiscent of the meditative practices of the whirling dervishes. She has therefore, chosen to name her dance style as Sufi Kathak. Manjari Chaturvedi has blended the mysticism of Sufism with the classicism of Kathak to evolve a new kind of dance, Sufi Kathak. Other Kathak propagators in the Indian diaspora are Anjani Ambegaonkar and Janaki Petrik in the USA, and Nilima Devi in Leicester, UK, all of whom are alumni of the Department of Dance, the M S University of Baroda, India.

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