When North meets South

Sanjay Joshi and group’s Kathak dance and a Bharatanatyam dance recital by the students of Kaumudi Dance Academy marked the second day of Sataroopa 2013; a 100-day extravaganza organised by the cultural department, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Arundhuti Banerjee

Kathak is one of the most versatile dance forms in Indian classical dance that has also been used in many Hindi films, especially when showing courtesans, almost stereotyping the dance form. However, Kathak has originated from the temple dance of North India. The nuances of the temple dance were presented by the performance of Kathak expert Sanjay Kumar Joshi and his troupe in a cultural programme titled Sataroopa 2013, a 100-day celebration organised by the cultural department, Government of AP at Ravindra Bharathi.

Their dance recital started with the traditional Kathak dance piece Krishna Vandana followed by Guru vandana, a gath item, a geet based on raag Bhimpalashree and Jhaptaal, a special choreography on a patriotic song ‘Janmabhumi meri pyari janmabhumi’ sung by his guru Swapnasundari. The performance ended up with a Tarana. “Since we are performing in a group, according to the requirement, I re-composed some of the dances. But all of these are based on pure Kathak tradition,” said Sanjay.

Sanjay is also the first male Vilasini Natyam dancer, “I have training in Kathak from my childhood. But the day I decided to learn Vilasini Natyam from Guru Swapnasundari, with a fascination for the abhinaya part, it was a challenge for me as it is a female dance form,” he shared. Apart from Kathak and Vilasini Natyam, he trained in Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam. According to him, learning various dance forms helped him to grow as a choreographer.

As Sanjay’s group amazed the audience with their Kathak, young dance students from Kaumudi Academy of Dance showed their potential in Bharatanatyam. In addition to the traditional items like Panchadeva Kauthuvam, Jatiswaram, Mahishasura Mardhini, Thillana, they performed Kavadi Chindu, a folk form of Tamil nadu as the concluding piece. “The last dance item is a different choreography that has been inspired by a folk art of Tamil nadu. We have composed it in Bharatanatyam form. It is new, experimental,” said Kaumudi Dance Academy mentor Rajalakshmi.