Colourful clothes, lightning-fast footwork and dizzying spins have been a few of the sights and sounds offered by Katha Dance Theater at UW-Eau Claire’s Schofield Auditorium.
As a part of the Forum Artists Series, Katha Dance Theater, an organization specializing in the Indian classical dance of Kathak, gave a efficiency on April 30.
One in every of the 8 classical dances of India, Kathak is a dance kind from North India that features storytelling utilizing hand gestures known as mudras and footwork to complicated rhythmic patterns.
Kathak has an historical historical past and Katha’s program for the evening introduced this historical past to the viewers. Rita Mustaphi, the director of Katha dance, launched the program in three totally different sections detailing totally different phases in the dance’s historical past.
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The primary part of the efficiency included three songs coming from the origin of the dance in a Hindu context. Mustaphi stated Kathak began as a dramatic approach of decoding Hindu myths.
“There was a necessity in the neighborhood to speak these tales,” Mustaphi stated. “They might inform folks how you can reside morally and ethically.”
The tales advised in Kathak are based mostly on the adventures of varied Hindu gods, reminiscent of Krishna. Krishna is very common in non secular songs due to his mischievous nature and since he was the topic of affection poetry.
All of the songs from the Hindu period for Katha’s efficiency have been centered round Krishna, whether or not it was in reward of him or detailing the playful bother he gave to his lovers.
The subsequent part of the efficiency centered on the Kathak dances of the courtroom performers. These dances have been for leisure or for the reward of kings and rulers, which marked a change from the purely non secular Hindu beginnings of Kathak.
“This dance was sacred, so the dancers weren’t allowed to carry out for the kings so that they introduced in Persian dancers,” Mustaphi stated. “Artists being artists, they snuck into the temples to repeat the dancer and study from them.”
This part of Kathak dance coincided with the period of the Mughal Empire, and the Muslim rulers put extra emphasis on the purely aesthetic elements of the dance and centered much less on storytelling.
“That was thought-about the finest time of Kathak dance. It was a renaissance for the artwork kind and a fusion of Muslim and Hindu tradition,” Mustaphi stated.
The Katha Theater dancers gave a efficiency of two pure dance items, which confirmed off their competence dancing to quick rhythms and making a number of pirouettes (known as chakkars in Kathak) in fast succession.
Accentuating every of the dancer’s steps have been conventional ankle bells known as ghungroos which turned the dancer’s ft into percussive devices.
For the final part of the efficiency, Mustaphi launched some up to date items. Mustaphi and her college students danced to 2 songs recorded by native gospel artists.
These items have been outdoors of the conventional repertoire and confirmed the adaptability of Indian classical dance. Since the songs have been in English, it gave new audiences a method to guess the meanings of the hand gestures.
The up to date items in the program mirrored a few of the fashionable choreographic initiatives Katha Dance Theater is engaged on in the Twin Cities.
The corporate has 10 dancers in the efficiency crew who do excursions and outreach, and has a college with lessons accessible year-round.
With over 150 college students and virtually 40 years of affect, Katha Dance exhibits that Kathak dance has a steady and evolving legacy in the Twin Cities and past.
Sonnek may be reached at [email protected].