In January 2010, Jigyasa and her students conducted Kathak workshops at The American International School, Chennai. Earlier she has conducted workshops at other schools and forums to create an awareness about this beautiful dance form.
We began with a brief introduction about Indian dances with specific reference to Kathak and how it originated in North India in the 3 states of Lucknow, Jaipur & Banaras; giving rise to the 3 gharanas of this graceful dance form.
Jigyasa said, “Dance is body movement. When you move your body to music and rhythm, it becomes a dance. You can depict anything through dance, we can depict animals and birds, Indian Gods, stories etc. We are now going to show you an aspect of kathak known as Gat. When we finish each piece, you can tell us what we did, almost like a game of dumb charades.”
The students participated with enthusiasm and were enthralled with the next dance item of Holi, the festival of colours. They were guided through dance movements which depicted how Holi is celebrated – how they throw colours, decorate their homes, sprinkle fragrance, mix colours of Holi & make a paste with sandalwood.
Next the students were introduced to the ABCs of Kathak such as:
1. Chakkars or spins: A very interesting & dynamic part of this dance form. There are different types of chakkars – with one step, two steps, three…upto eight steps. There was a Demo by the Devaniya dancers about the types of chakkars in different speeds.
2. Tatkar: The basic footwork of Kathak is known as Tatkar. Tatkar is of many kinds and was demonstrated in 3 speeds to begin with. Next we showed how we can add music and different movements to this footwork. We asked the viewers to concentrate on the feet & arm movements.
3. Costumes: Kathak is popularly performed in two types of costumes – the Lehanga Choli or the traditional Indian costume. Some of the dancers performed a Namaskar Bol in this costume. The other one is called the Angarika which is the Mughal influence in this dance form. The remaining dancers performed a Salaami in the Angarika costume.
4. Toda: Another dynamic, rhythmic aspect of Kathak. Various syllables are strung together in a rhythmic pattern.
5. Gat: Compositions that depict an action, like the walk of a lady, depicting a veil, rowing a boat, or the walk of birds & animals and also various Gods & Goddesses. Jigyasa performed the Gat Chaal & Ghungat while the younger dancers performed Naav ki gat, Mayuri, Gajagamini & Krishna.
6. There are also many musical compositions to which a kathak dancer dances such as the Thumri, Bhajan, Dadra, Ghazal, Tiruwat & Tarana. The dancers performed a short & sweet Tarana as the finale.
