WHAT IS KATHAK ?

Kathak is one of the six classical dances of India. The word katha, which comes from the Sanskrit meaning story or tale, can be traced back to Vedic times. At first a kind of dance theater that mimed epics, Kathak, like most Hindu dances, evolved to become a purely religious art. During the 16th century the mogul emperors triggered off considerable change in this art form, leading it from being a sacred dance to becoming the dance of the courts. Indeed, as it was greatly appreciated by the conquerors, the dance underwent a fantastic boom and thus became a full-fledged classical art.

The technique of Kathak calls for highly elaborate choreographic language using mudras (code hand-gestures), footwork, facial expressions and positions of the body. Grace, emotion and sophistication of gesture coupled with speed and the precision of its rhythms give Kathak its essential qualities.

"When the dancer performs his thoras or when he takes a pirouette, the audience may wonder whether they are beholding a human being at all. It may seem that this is a vision of a fleeting meteor or of lightning." ("Hindu dances" by Usha Chaterjee)

The musical accompaniment includes percussion, with the tabla and sometimes the pakhavaj, singing, as well as one or several melodic instruments such as the sarangi, the sitar, the santur and the harmonium. Kathak is built around the dialogue between the percussion instruments and the dancers who wear ghunguru (strings of approximately 250 small bells) wound around each ankle; they too are musical instruments.

The choreograhic steps are often recited by bol, mnemotechnical syllables that describe the steps and rhythmic speed with which they will be performed.

During a performance, the dancer interprets a precise sequence of fiures that begin witha a slow rhythm (vilambit laya), which is then doubled and finally it reaches a paroxismal speed (drut laya). Pure dance and elaborate rhythmic compositions are intersperced with moments of improvisation. Then come extracts from hte Krisnalila, the Râmâyana or the Mahâbhârata, the great sacred epics of India. Here mime and expression prevail. The performance generally ends wiht the paran, poems in dance form, evoking the deities of the Hindu pantheon.