{"id":15766,"date":"2024-09-21T13:08:43","date_gmt":"2024-09-21T13:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/entertainment\/15766\/"},"modified":"2024-09-21T13:08:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-21T13:08:43","slug":"madhu-natrajs-kathas-in-kathak-showed-how-the-dance-form-has-evolved-to-tell-new-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/?p=15766","title":{"rendered":"Madhu Natraj\u2019s \u2018Kathas in Kathak\u2019 showed how the dance form has evolved to tell new stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Madhu<\/picture><\/div>\n

\nMadhu Natraj presented \u2018Kathas in Kathak\u2019 at the Bangalore International Centre.\u00a0
\n| Photo Credit: Photo: Suresh Babu\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u2018Kathas in Kathak,\u2019 presented by Natya STEM Dance Kampni at the Bangalore International Centre (BIC), was a dance between swirling and stillness, history and modernity, silence and the music of resurgence. While each aspect of this dance had its own textures, colours and vocabularies, a unified language, cultivated by the dancers in body, mind, and spirit shone through.<\/p>\n

Introducing Kathak as the form that has taken the maximum number of \u2018onslaughts, invasions and bans,\u2019 Madhu Nataraj, founder, STEM Dance Kampni, and Director, Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography (the two entities that make Natya STEM Dance Kampni), set the tone for an evening of storytelling on storytellers and their form, Kathak \u2013 that, curiously, was once a word for \u201cstorytellers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Dancers<\/div>\n

\nDancers at the performance.
\n| Photo Credit:
\nPhoto: Suresh Babu\n<\/p>\n

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Leisurely pace <\/h4>\n

The programme\u2019s pace was leisurely, though we travelled through many centuries, going back and forth from the past to the future, collecting (sometimes startling) new insights on mythology, and refreshing perspectives on textbook histories. The interactive nature of the performance afforded more access to understanding a classical dance form that has clearly evolved in rhythm with everything that was happening around it. We learnt how gracefully the form spoke when silenced; how it tweaked and tuned its motifs according to the times. Every item performed by the seasoned, much-travelled ensemble of dancers, told of Kathak\u2019s pluralistic roots, its resilience and tendency to daringly reinvent itself and better tell its tales. <\/p>\n

Starting with a well-synchronised piece on Kathak\u2019s earlier avatar during the times when Vaishnavism reigned in parts of India, \u2018Kathas in Kathak\u2019 took us, in a leap, across the centuries when the ghunghroos of temple dancers fell silent, only to emerge again in the bodies of court dancers wearing their ingenuity in freshly fashioned ornaments of dance. This pattern of demonstrating Kathak\u2019s transformation with historical contexts ran parallel with a rich, visual narration of its power to transform storytellers\u2019 voices and foster social agency. <\/p>\n

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\"Madhu<\/div>\n

\nMadhu Natraj provided a peek into the dance form\u2019s history.
\n| Photo Credit:
\nPhoto: Suresh Babu\n<\/p>\n

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Interesting insights <\/h4>\n

From the artistic morphing of Krishna\u2019s depiction into \u201cbegum ki muskurahat\u201d to the demonstration of Kathak\u2019s inherent ability to hold gendered issues like cross-dressing ever so lightly, the pieces simultaneously brought delight and information to the audience, without distancing them through displays of just technical skill. In the context of \u201cglobalisation and polarisation,\u201d to quote Madhu Nataraj, who strung the show together with her gently told, in-depth chronicles, one could appreciate the importance of this dance form\u2019s journey. And quite the same way, the unfair erasure of courtesans\u2019 contributions to nurturing this form, was effectively conveyed. Rare, vintage choreographies held the audience in thrall as did modern ones addressing pressing issues like climate change. <\/p>\n

\u2018Kathas in Kathak\u2019 was presented at BIC as part of the ongoing celebrations of 60 years of Natya Institute, started in 1964 by two pioneering women, Maya Rao and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. The intention of keeping culture alive in all its wholesomeness, and for its own sake \u2013 not as \u201ca crutch for a festival or annual day programme,\u201d has ensured that Natya has stayed relevant for 60 years, \u201cgoing way beyond the prevalent start-up culture,\u201d says Madhu. This has been made possible through a core belief that \u201cthe role of dance institutions is to be nerve centres that create eco-systems,\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n

Six-decade journey<\/h4>\n
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\"The<\/div>\n

\nThe performance highlighted how new stories are being narrated through Kathak.
\n| Photo Credit:
\nPhoto: Suresh Babu\n<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo mark the six eventful decades, 60 collaborations are being dreamed of and acted on, of which 24 are already underway or completed\u201d, she says. Believing that \u201ccollaboration gives you the power to harness the idea of collective action, whether in artistry or social change,\u201d Madhu has followed in the footsteps of her mentor and mother Maya Rao, under whom she trained closely. The early collaborations of Natya Institute with the likes of Anil Biswas and Dagar Brothers have set the stage for the ones now being developed in domains as varied as climate action and social change, she shares. <\/p>\n

\u201cKathak, in its DNA, is the essence of pluralism,\u201d says Madhu, while talking about the form that has aligned with India\u2019s innate tendency to be pluralistic, and that has constantly shaped itself according to influences of the time. She also stresses the need she has felt as a feminist, to take a stance against propagating parochialism or patriarchy through dance. This means having to constantly dialogue with arts organisers and apply sensitivity to artistic depictions of traditional stories, especially mythologies handed down over the ages. These and other aspects of Natya Institute\u2019s practice percolated through the carefully cultivated lens of Natya STEM Dance Kampni\u2019s \u2018Kathas in Kathak\u2019, where every story was told in rhythm with a deeply felt need for building connection. <\/p>\n

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Published – September 21, 2024 06:31 pm IST<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

STEM Dance Kampni
\nMadhu Natraj
\nMaya Rao
\nBangalore International Centre
\nNatya Institute of Kathak and Choreography
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madhu Natraj presented \u2018Kathas in Kathak\u2019 at the Bangalore International Centre.\u00a0 | Photo Credit: Photo: Suresh Babu \u2018Kathas in Kathak,\u2019 presented by Natya STEM Dance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[180],"tags":[9812,45907,6845,34729,45905,37858,45904,45906,4415],"class_list":["post-15766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-dance","tag-evolved","tag-form","tag-kathak","tag-kathas","tag-madhu","tag-natrajs","tag-showed","tag-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t