WoT's Hot
Elegy for Kathak
This was Kathak from a new standpoint, created by Ashavari Majumdar. Presented at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations auditorium. Ashavari, who has trained under Pandit Vijay Shankar in Calcutta and Pandit Birju Maharaj in Delhi, has performed as a soloist in dance festivals in India and abroad. Unusually, she is a master’s degree holder in English Literature from St Stephens’s and has directed and scripted short films.
In this particular production, the question asked is: How can Kathak negotiate the contemporary soundscapes? And how will this affect its grammar and vocabulary? She reminds us of the fact of how the kathaks sang of balmy breezes across the Yamuna, of grazing cows, gopis churning butter, miming the gaits of elephants and peacocks and birdcalls and the chirrup of crickets mingling with the pakhawaj and tabla in their music.
This is where the dancer, Ashavari, dressed unusually in a pure white shroud-like outfit, ekes out her response, in contemporary-classical mode, to the cacophony of urban sounds, where her traditional dancers float in, Greek-chorus like to perform the “normal” kathak. Her work is a reinterpretation. And the reinstating of the true form comes as she claws back the ghungrus to bring a new resonance to her hitherto soundless, wafting performance. The culmination is the haunting thumri “Kaun gali gayo Shyam”, done in dervish like repetitive movements.
The lighting in this production is minimalist and stark, executed by husband Abhyuday Khaitan, who is an artist working with film. We saw an earlier powerful rendering of Surpanakha, and can look forward to Sit Down and Study like a Good Girl, to be premiered in October. It was heartening to see no unlikely sponsors coming to distract from the production, which was presented by the danseuse’s own charitable trust---Apaar-Anahata Performance and Arts Research − an artist-led initiative to promote interdisciplinary collaborations between the arts and with a special focus on traditional performing arts. Their mission: that the space for independent artwork has to be guarded fiercely.
Other Articles in REAR WINDOW WOT
What to read next
Featured articles
Welcome Festive Season in Glam, Latin Quarters Launches new #PujoBling Collection with Monami Ghosh
by WOT
