Going global
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A spectrum of views at the 2nd International Kathak Festival in Chicago
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It is Chicago draped in the efflorescence of colour in autumn, as trees sport leaves in myriad shades of yellow, orange, red and pink. But closeted within the interiors of the International House, University of Chicago, is a different world constitu
ting gurus, dancers, scholars and critics meeting for the 2nd International Kathak Festival mounted by Anila Sinha Foundation with The International House. Kathak transformation in the global context makes interesting discussion. Kathak has been known for its assimilative capacity, right from its seeds in the kathakar whose itinerant storytelling activity through poetry, gesture, myth, movement and philosophy was a factor in integrating India’s varied population.
Contextual discomfort
Sarah Morelli, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, highlights the contradictions of Kathak practised in the contextual discomfort of contemporary America pictured on the walls of her guru Chitresh Das’ house, with the barefoot tatkar slugging on floors down below. Concepts like ‘sanskar’, ‘sadhana’, ‘guru’ (with its confused connotation), ‘spiritual’ are not easily transmitted to the contemporary American. What is Kathak as ‘cultural identity’ in today’s context, with images drawn from ancient Indian life with the gendered ideologies involved in the nayika interpretation based on the thumri to which Kathak is danced, asks Purnima Shah, Professor of the practice of Dance at Duke University. The constant issue facing the dancer is whether to project ‘cultural identity’ or surrender to the cultural pulls around. As mentioned, whether true to the art or to oneself, “comfort is no test of truth, and on the other hand truth is far from comfortable”.
Hema Rajagopal, practising Bharatanatyam in Chicago for years, concludes that hard work, interaction and ability to listen to different viewpoints reveal ways of communicating through the classical vocabulary, transcending labelling as the “exotic”, “quaint”, “decorated”, “ethnic” dancer.
Kathak teachers voice woes of contending with students coming for one or two hours a week for classes, for what is considered a cultural artefact rather than a discipline with which one was to be involved professionally. Abhay Shankar Misra, now teaching for the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London, speaks of the ‘tablet’ pedagogical form he has evolved for students, without watering down classical integrity. Rosella Fanneli with her empathy for the sacred in the dance, talks of how after 15 years of gurukulavasa with Arjun Misra and family in Lucknow, she is struggling through interaction with other art forms, to find space for Kathak in an Italian city with no Indian population.
Pointing to Pandit Birju Maharaj’s contribution through his innumerable productions, Saswati Sen bemoans vulgar dance on television and films corrupting young minds. Kumudini Lakhia specifies three categories of teachers — the ‘gharanedhars’, the professional teachers, and the commercial teachers — the last finding their playfield in Bollywood. Films cannot be displaced, nor can they displace classical dance.
Sunil Kothari through clippings of old films like “Mughal-e-Azam”, “Devdas”, highlights how film dance choreography by legendary gurus treated Kathak with finesse. Through misgivings about the nayika’s relevance in today’s world, it is the tawaif’s art examples epitomising the best in Kathak!
Mentioning how a good choreographer devises movement to suit the particular dancer’s body, Kumudini speaks of her doing away with the narrative while exploring abstract dance to make a statement. “The teacher must treat Kathak like a fabric — not like a stitched garment.” The event was supported by the Illinois Arts Council and National Endowment of the Arts besides the Indian Consulate among others.
LEELA VENKATARAMAN
CHICAGO SHOW TIME
Sheer excellence of Pandit Birju Maharaj’s mesmeric evening performance communicated across cultural and time boundaries. Vaishali Trivedi’s melodious singing “Kamalanayana Waro”, an Ashwini Bhide Deshpande lyric in Vachaspati
, with its layered treatment of Krishna as mud eating prankster, and Goverdhanagiridhari charmed. Daring arguments about the abhisarika nayika’s irrelevance was her ghazal “Nayanare Nayna kaise bite” interpretation, its minimalism and aesthetic delicacy suggesting sensuality in every glance, even thaat, before the lyric began, establishing the sringar mood. Prashant Shah’s Dhamar artistry, verve and ability to innovate within tradition while playing with tala, and Saswati Sen’s blend of Dhamar and Teen tala with poetry of Ras Khan showed there could be no shortcut to internalising the art form. Archana Joglekar’s presentation with the classically elegant taped music was typically Rohini Bhate.
Parvati Dutta’s refined Chau tala performance, despite a tabla player finalised at the nth hour, was based on pakhawaj bols studied under a pakhawaj maestro. Uma Dogra’s Kathak abhinaya shone with the dancer’s innate integrity. Abhay Shankar Misra’s brilliant Jaipur gharana with Lucknow lacings should have cut down on the overlong repetitive imagery of the Dhrupad invocation. The students of Anil Sinha Foundation presenting the curtain raiser “Siva”, moved well, through the simple choreography of the committed Kiran Chauhan
The Kathak Kendra Repertory, given the female dancers’ proficient technique, in the over fast pace, drowned the aesthetic delicacy of the Govindashtakam verses. California settled Pandit Chitresh Das’ Kathak Yoga was an eye-opener. His own individualistic solo dancing apart, his training of disciples, Indian and foreign, all unfailingly reverent to the guru and the dance, is exceptional. Barring non-Indian dancers like the graceful Natalia Hildner (trained under Anila Sinha, Kumudini Lakhia and now Pandit Birju Maharaj) and the brilliant Charlotte (Chitresh Das’s disciple) the entirely Indian constituent of the 200-300 strong audience every evening made one wonder if ‘global cultural identity’ was more than academic discussion!
L.V.
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