A festival of Kathak

Classical evening

Kathak Kendra’ celebrated its three-day annual festival called ‘Kathak Mahotsav’ at the Kamani Auditorium recently.

Held from March 11 to 13, the carnival saw many accomplished Kathak dancers including the gurus of the institute like Rajendra Kumar Gangani and Urmila Nagar. Their students also performed some beautifully choreographed pieces to enthrall the audience.

Since 1976, ‘Kathak Mahotsav’ has been organised by the institute every year and is held in memory of Kundan Lal Gangani, an eminent guru of the institute. A master of the ‘Jaipur Gharana’, Kundan Gangani emphasised on the solo format of the dance as its original and free-flowing form. Keeping this in mind, nine out of the 11 performances this year were solo ones.

Explained Chetana Jyotishi Beohar, the director of the institute, “The aim is to try and revive some of the oldest techniques in the dance form. These beautiful techniques are getting lost today due to over-experimentation. And then there could be no better way to inspire our students than bringing together the greatest names in Kathak on one platform.”

Conforming to its reputation, the festival this time was inaugurated by Pandit Birju Maharaj. The maestro also gave a very motivating speech on the need to preserve the ancient dance form. This was immediately followed by the screening of a documentary film on Kundan Lal Gangani. The film, produced by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and directed by well-known journalist Brijendra Rehi, traced the master’s artistic journey from the small village of Churu in Rajasthan, to heading the institute in Delhi.

This was followed by stellar performances from his son Rajendra Kumar Gangani and students Prerana Shrimali and Urmila Nagar. Prerana’s recital was based on Rajasthani folk while Rajendra Gangani depicted his father’s innovation in Kathak– the ‘ganth chautala’ or dancing to a cyclic rhythm of 14 beats. Difficult to perform, it is hardly rendered by kathak dancers today.

The second day started with a magnificent ‘Tribandi’ – again a work of Kundan Lal. Directed by Rajendra Gangani, ‘Tribandi’ featured three dancers, Tripti Sanwal,Vidya Gauri and Preeti Sharma. As a student of ‘Kathak Kendra’ explained, “It was a complete performance with pieces like thaat, aamad, paran and chakkars exquisitely displayed.” The day ended with performances from celebrated dancers– Praveen Gangani, Neelima Adhye and Ram Mohan Maharaj.

The third day saw a spectacular rendition – ‘Dhrupad Basanti Leela by seven students of the ‘Kathak Kendra’. It depicted Lord Krishna in raas lila with Radha and other gopis. The festival closed with recitals from distinguisheddancers – Vasanti Vaishnav, Rajkuar Javda and Saswati Sen.

Prabha Sharma, a member of the audience said, “This festival is a great way to make a rich dance form like Kathak accessible to common people. It is not only entertaining but will also create an interest in the minds of the youngsters regarding the dance form.”