Madhu Natraj’s ‘Kathas in Kathak’ showed how the dance form has evolved to tell new stories

Madhu Natraj introduced ‘Kathas in Kathak’ on the Bangalore Worldwide Centre. 
| Picture Credit score: Picture: Suresh Babu

‘Kathas in Kathak,’ introduced by Natya STEM Dance Kampni on the Bangalore Worldwide Centre (BIC), was a dance between swirling and stillness, historical past and modernity, silence and the music of resurgence. Whereas every facet of this dance had its personal textures, colors and vocabularies, a unified language, cultivated by the dancers in physique, thoughts, and spirit shone via.

Introducing Kathak as the shape that has taken the utmost variety of ‘onslaughts, invasions and bans,’ Madhu Nataraj, founder, STEM Dance Kampni, and Director, Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography (the 2 entities that make Natya STEM Dance Kampni), set the tone for a night of storytelling on storytellers and their kind, Kathak – that, curiously, was as soon as a phrase for “storytellers.”

Dancers on the efficiency.
| Picture Credit score:
Picture: Suresh Babu

Leisurely tempo

The programme’s tempo was leisurely, although we travelled via many centuries, going backwards and forwards from the previous to the long run, accumulating (typically startling) new insights on mythology, and refreshing views on textbook histories. The interactive nature of the efficiency afforded extra entry to understanding a classical dance kind that has clearly advanced in rhythm with every thing that was occurring round it. We learnt how gracefully the shape spoke when silenced; the way it tweaked and tuned its motifs in keeping with the instances. Each merchandise carried out by the seasoned, much-travelled ensemble of dancers, informed of Kathak’s pluralistic roots, its resilience and tendency to daringly reinvent itself and higher inform its tales.

Beginning with a well-synchronised piece on Kathak’s earlier avatar throughout the instances when Vaishnavism reigned in components of India, ‘Kathas in Kathak’ took us, in a leap, throughout the centuries when the ghunghroos of temple dancers fell silent, solely to emerge once more within the our bodies of courtroom dancers carrying their ingenuity in freshly usual ornaments of dance. This sample of demonstrating Kathak’s transformation with historic contexts ran parallel with a wealthy, visible narration of its energy to remodel storytellers’ voices and foster social company.

Madhu Natraj offered a peek into the dance kind’s historical past.
| Picture Credit score:
Picture: Suresh Babu

Fascinating insights

From the creative morphing of Krishna’s depiction into “begum ki muskurahat” to the demonstration of Kathak’s inherent means to carry gendered points like cross-dressing ever so calmly, the items concurrently introduced delight and knowledge to the viewers, with out distancing them via shows of simply technical talent. Within the context of “globalisation and polarisation,” to cite Madhu Nataraj, who strung the present collectively together with her gently informed, in-depth chronicles, one might recognize the significance of this dance kind’s journey. And fairly the identical approach, the unfair erasure of courtesans’ contributions to nurturing this way, was successfully conveyed. Uncommon, classic choreographies held the viewers in thrall as did fashionable ones addressing urgent points like local weather change.

‘Kathas in Kathak’ was introduced at BIC as a part of the continued celebrations of 60 years of Natya Institute, began in 1964 by two pioneering ladies, Maya Rao and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. The intention of retaining tradition alive in all its wholesomeness, and for its personal sake – not as “a crutch for a competition or annual day programme,” has ensured that Natya has stayed related for 60 years, “going approach past the prevalent start-up tradition,” says Madhu. This has been made doable via a core perception that “the position of dance establishments is to be nerve centres that create eco-systems,” she provides.

Six-decade journey

The efficiency highlighted how new tales are being narrated via Kathak.
| Picture Credit score:
Picture: Suresh Babu

“To mark the six eventful many years, 60 collaborations are being dreamed of and acted on, of which 24 are already underway or accomplished”, she says. Believing that “collaboration provides you the facility to harness the concept of collective motion, whether or not in artistry or social change,” Madhu has adopted within the footsteps of her mentor and mom Maya Rao, below whom she skilled intently. The early collaborations of Natya Institute with the likes of Anil Biswas and Dagar Brothers have set the stage for those now being developed in domains as different as local weather motion and social change, she shares.

“Kathak, in its DNA, is the essence of pluralism,” says Madhu, whereas speaking concerning the kind that has aligned with India’s innate tendency to be pluralistic, and that has continuously formed itself in keeping with influences of the time. She additionally stresses the necessity she has felt as a feminist, to take a stance towards propagating parochialism or patriarchy via dance. This implies having to continuously dialogue with arts organisers and apply sensitivity to creative depictions of conventional tales, particularly mythologies handed down over the ages. These and different facets of Natya Institute’s observe percolated via the fastidiously cultivated lens of Natya STEM Dance Kampni’s ‘Kathas in Kathak’, the place each story was informed in rhythm with a deeply felt want for constructing connection.