Traditions are like rivers, they always find a way to keep flowing. Over the ages, Kathak has demonstrated malleability like no other tradition and the credit for this also goes to the practitioners who have shown grit and grace in times of adversities. This has evolved Kathak and it has freed it also from many shackles of its original construct. I reached out to Vidha Lal, a ravishing Kathak dancer, to learn more on how a presentation of Kathak can be best enjoyed. Our conversations begins with Vidha, reminiscing on some of her own experiences of the dance form.
“My earliest memory of Kathak was when my father had taken me to a Birla temple where I saw a group presentation by Smt Uma Sharma. I was only six when I witnessed the performance, but it had a lasting impact on me. It was magical! While as a six-year-old the costumes created the necessary first impression, but today if I were to recollect and analyse why that presentation of Kathak captivated me, then I would attribute it to the synchronised movements of the dancers. At that time, I could never tell one from the other; everyone looked the same, everyone danced well,” she recalls.
Dance has an innate ability to spread joy and cheer. But an important lesson to take away from Vidha’s narration of her experience is that — to be a good rasika, it is required to identify with all aspects of the artiste, including their vulnerability during abhinaya, their joy during movements, their focus while executing a rhythm, their imaginative capacity while recreating elements as profound as creation with merely footwork, gestures and gaze. The beauty of the Indian classical dance forms is also how it allows the mind construct within everybody in the audience to create an imaginary realm suspended from their own subjective reality that allows them to travel and extend their ‘self’ to experience the infinite nothingness. Of course, such an experience for the audience is possible only when the artist succeeds in expanding her inner ‘self’ to recreating a glimpse of unseen designs of nature. If a rasika experiences even one such rich possibility, it is enough to elevate the potential of eyes from ‘seeing’ to ‘perceiving’ above and beyond the physical realm. In the case of Vidha, who was just a child, all these elements got imprinted in her deeply that she decided then and there that she would become a Kathak dancer.
Recalling her other memorable experience of Kathak presentation, Vidha shares a bewitching performance of a legend, Sitara Devi with Kishan Maharaj on tabla. “When I was a student of Kathak Kendra, I was exposed to a lot of Kathak and I love their annual festivals as, on those occasions, Kathak dancers who are stalwarts were paired with tabla maestros from another city or lineage. As a student, I got to see the true possibilities of on-the-spot improvisations. Also, in didi’s dance there is a gay abandon: when she dances the nrtta (pure dance), she transcends the feminine realm!,” she says.
Improvisations in Indian classical forms allow freedom of expression wherein the artist’s talent, rigour, originality and intuition all synthesise and come together. The improvisation employed is not merely random or free-form; rather, they are structured on-the-spot within an established framework of melody or rhythm. This interplay between freedom and structure gives room for the artists to push boundaries to explore the form, its scope, and their own potential. The interplay that the audience witnesses between the lead artist and the accompanying artist is also what creates an excitement in them for being part of the synergy. Usually their delight is heard as ‘sabhash’, ‘wah wah’, or ‘bravo’. The synergy that Sitara Devi exuberates spills over as an overcast; for, her dance has a vibe that will penetrate every audience’s heart leaving an impression that will inevitably dawn on what it truly means to enjoy ultimate beauty. Her dance will create raptures that the audience will leave spellbound. Such an experience a rasika feels is called sthamba.
In fact, Vidha herself has a virtuosity, artistry and finesse that would leave any audience intoxicated in want of a little more. Vidha’s Kathak presentation has an agility that matches the fiery elements of nature. During the vilambith (slow tempo), when she combines the footwork and limb with the nazaron ka tehraav (delayed pause with the eyes), she would stoke the orange hues of fire, binding her audience with her gaze. In contrast, every time she lands during a tihai (the end of a rhythmic frill), she would be like a phoenix diving down perishing into the dark blues hues of the light. As the tempo of the presentation picks up to drut laya, she becomes the yellow flames, herself levitating, setting the stage on fire. When the mood of the presentation shifts from nrtta to the soft srinagar, her portrayals of love would kindle a passion akin to the redness of the heart in her rasika.