This was a recital that held the city in rapt attention. Bharatanatyam and Kathak at its graceful best. A blend that is not too often seen. This unusual dance recital was organised by The Indian Institute of World Culture. The Dharmaprakasha L S Venkaji Rao Endowment Programme, called ‘Bharatanatyam and Kathak’, saw Prakash Naidu’s Bharatanatyam and Sankhya Phadnis’ Kathak. Prakash is a student of Radha Sridhar and Bhanumathi while Sankhya, a student of Dr Maya Rao.

The packed hall at The Indian Institute of World Culture proved the fact that dance indeed has no borders. The last piece, the jugalbandi of Kathak and Bharatanatyam, was in sync, the rhythm and the footwork in place.

Despite live music, the recitals left its footprints in the minds of the art lovers. Sankhya danced with her fluid grace and Prakash with much vigour.

Eminent Kathak dancer

As one is aware, both the dance forms has its roots and inspiration in mythology. Going as far back as the Vedas.
And in Bangalore, Kathak of course has become synonymous with Maya Rao. Kathak began with ‘Kathakars’ or story tellers and were performed as folk dances in temples and later revived during the Bhakthi Movement.

Prakash is an eminent dancer in Bharatanatyam as well as Kathak.

Trained in Bharatanatyam for the last 24 years under Bhanumathi and Radha Sridhar, he has also learnt Kathak for 17 years under Maya Rao and Chitra Venugopal. He has passed his senior exam with distinction in Bharatanatyam conducted by the Karnataka Secondary Education Board. He has had training in martial arts and Chau dance forms.

Prakash, who extensively performs across the globe, was a visiting scholar at Michigan state university, USA.

Being a part of eminent ballets, feature productions and prestigious dance festivals in India and abroad, he has earned accolades from dance lovers, media and critics as well.

Achiever

Sankhya, meanwhile, is a classical dancer and choreographer. This 31-year-old artiste is learning and performing Kathak and Bharatanatyam for the last 21 years. She started learning Bharatanatyam under Revathi Narasimhan at Natyaniketana and Kathak in 1993 under Maya Rao and Chitra Venugopal at Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography (NIKC) for the last 14 years.

Her meritorious background has many achievements. She holds the first rank in Bharatanatyam Vidwat, first rank in BA (choreography) from Bangalore University and a gold medal winner at state-level Kathak competition.

She has made her presence felt in prestigious festivals like the ‘Lucknow Mahotsav’, ‘Kathak Dhara’ both in Lucknow and 'Vasantotsava' in Mysore, to name a few.

Performances

She was also part of well-known ballets like ‘Vijaya Nagara Vaibhava’, ‘Hoysal Vaibhava’ and ‘Aamir Khusro’ choreographed by Maya Rao.

She continues to learn from her gurus while guiding her students to perform.

All said and done, this was one recital that Bangaloreans will remember for a long time. For once the North-South divide was invisible.