KOCHI: Krishnakshi Kashyap’s tryst with Sattriya Nrithya began a few years ago when she started performing the dance form on various stages across the country. Well trained in Bharatnatyam, she was able to prove her multifarious talent when she mastered the dance form native to Assam.
A disciple of one of the leading Sattriya exponents Ramakrishna Talukdar, Krishnakshi was recently in the city for a Sattriya dance performance along with her guru.
While Ramakrishna Talukdar comes from a family well connected to music, it was not the same for Krishnakshi, but her penchant for dancing from a young age saw her through. After taking classes in Bharatnatyam she got intrigued with Sattriya. “I think the Lasya in Sattriya makes it different from other classical forms like Bharatnatyam or Kathak. The steps are more spontaneous, like the wave of an ocean. The footwork is intricate and soft, as we perform it without ghungroos,” says Krishnakshi.
Krishnakshi believes that being an Assamese Sattriya dance artist she has the responsibility to promote and spread more word about the dance form.
Asked whether she finds Sattriya more appealing thanother classical dances, she pointed out that every dance form had its own beauty and reasons to attract the audience. “ It is unfair to compare dance forms,” she says.
This ancient dance form which originated as early as the 15th century was relegated to the monasteries, known as Sattras, thus giving the dance form the name Sattriya. Performed earlier on purely religious occasions, Sattriya gained the status of a classical dance form only in 2000.