“Dance to inspire, dance to freedom, life is about experiences so dance and let yourself become free”
― Shah Asad Rizvi
Kathak is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. Roots are attributed to the traveling bards of ancient northern India known as Kathakars or Storytellers. Kathak is derived from the Sanskrit word Katha which means story, and Kathaka which means he who tells a story. Wandering Kathakas communicated stories from the great epics and ancient mythology through dance, songs and music in a manner similar to early Greek coliseum.
Kathak comprises of Gharanas—the famous being Lucknow, Jaipur and Varanasi. It was during the reign of Nawab Wajid Ali Khan this cult achieved its peak. Nawab saab who was at Lucknow…show more content… The background music, either vocal or orchestral sutures the story accompanied by Abhinaya, the artist's accessories and his / her makeup. This feeling of Satvika or Goddess Durga through eye movement emanates anonymously from within and reflects through a human's natural expression. A dancer reaches a state of bliss performing this faction and it brings a sense of tranquility to the audience as well. The audience is keenly perceptive to such stories as they feel a part of the recital. This is the aesthetic self -actualization of a dancer.
It’s mandatory to start the dance with Namaskara accompanied with Ganesh Vandana or a Salaami (Mughal style). Anand is the item through which a dancer enters upon the stage; accompanied with soft and varied movements. Items of pure rhythmic beauty—Todas, Tukdas—follows. The mythological episodes are portrayed.
Kathak as a performance art survived and thrived as a cult, learnt and innovated from one generation to another verbally and through practice. It transitioned, adapted and integrated the tastes of the Mughal courts in the 16th and 17th century particularly during Akbar’s regime, but was ridiculed and declined in the colonial British