Graceful Kathak…
Fine Arts plays an eminent role in everybody’s life. The man turns himself towards the arts in search of happiness. They act as resources for revitalizing one’s self. Music, dance, theatre, painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry are called fine arts among 64 arts. India is endowed with a rich treasure of fine arts. I feel Blessed to be a human and proud to be an Indian.
Kathak, one of the eight Indian dance forms, mesmerizes me. Such a graceful dance it is. Grace and aesthetics are the basic qualities every art form possesses. But my fascination is towards the graceful kathak among the other dance forms. I just adore this dance form. The footwork, expressions, body movements, beautiful spins, costumes, ghungroo (ankle bells), jewelry, and the dancer… All these together contribute to the gracefulness in it.
When I was 15 years old, for the first time I got introduced to this dance form. Thanks to the idea of the CCRT (Centre for Cultural Resources and Training) to conduct workshops with an intention of “Unity in Diversity”. In these workshops, all the young students receiving Scholarships in their respective art forms, from all over India, meet at one place. As a young and upcoming music scholar, I got an opportunity to know about this dance form through these workshops. From then on my fascination developed towards this graceful kathak.
Out of interest, I searched on google and got to know that Kathak traces its origins to some group of people known as KathAkArs or storytellers from ancient northern India. That is why it is named ‘Kathak’. There is also an interesting fact that it has absorbed certain features of Persian and Central Asian dance forms in the period of Mughal’s rule. One can find similarities in the footwork used in kathak with that of Persian dance.
To discuss body movements is beyond my level of expression. One should just watch and enjoy the beauty of those movements. The footwork and spins are the highlights of this dance. The costume, a lady dancer wears, is an Anarkali dress. I just love the umbrella shape formed while spinning. Spins done in faster rhythms look wonderful. I find lots of expertise in that rhythmic spinning. The ghungroo to the ankles, sounding in response to the rhythmic beats of tabla, is one of the factors I just adore. Facial expressions along with the steps are another interesting thing one shouldn’t miss.
Finally, I am done with expressing and sharing my views on graceful kathak dance as my second attempt to write. Feeling happy. 🙂
Keep reading and do encourage me.