With those elegant twists and turns sways the dancer’s iridescent skirt in sheer fluidity. The dancer, grace-personified, sashays her hands in sharp mudras to match with her intricate footwork. The languid motions detailing a katha (story) through hands and feet halts in between to give a verbal recount of the show by the performer herself.
Kathak, a spellbinding classical dance form originated in the Northern India, gained its name from the Kathakar, (the story teller) for its story telling quality, rests securely in the hands of Monisa Nayak, a Bengali kathak performer, who has travelled world over to strengthen its footing.
Monisa, who started learning kathak at the age of seven, fell for the art form when she joined Kathak Kendra in Delhi at the age of 14. It was her father who persistently made sure that his daughters followed art’s path.
“When I started learning kathak we were in Patna, as my father’s work took us to different parts of India. He wanted us, my sister and I, to take up Kathak as our profession. So from a very young age we started learning the art form,” says Monisa.
Monisa who started with the Lucknow Kharana, a genre of Kathak named in accordance with the place it derived from, later on shifted her gears to Jaipur Kharana, once she commenced her Kathak journey under Pandit Rajendra Gangani. Her sister Moumala Nayak, a disciple of Birju Maharaj, is also a known name among kathak lovers.
“Earlier dancers had to face many hurdles to gain recognition. Today, people are more aware of the art form. Many festivals are being conducted around India to showcase our art forms and most of the institutions are in favour of giving lecture demonstrations to students who have a lenience towards dancing. Hence, youngsters are not ignorant of kathak or for that matter any art form as they get a feel of what is classical. I must say media has played an ample part as well,” says Monisa about her profession.
With an extensive repertoire to her credit, this accomplished dancer has clinched many awards on her way to the top. Lauded with the coveted Sangeet Kala Ratna to Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, Monisa’s accomplishments do not limit to awards, her dance school founded in Delhi in 2011, Khanak Institute of Performing Arts, has around 70 students, all set to achieve graduation in Kathak from the state.
Devoid of any added flavours in her dance, Monisa religiously follows the manoeuvres of traditional Jaipur kharana kathak. “My style do not sway away much from the traditional kathak nuances except following the Kharanas. Many have started experimenting on kathak and novel genres like Sufi Kathak, contemporary kathak and many others have emerged. But traditional kathak had only one basic genre,” says Monisa.
Monisa, who has been performing at myriad dance festivals in Kerala from the age of ten, has another strong Malayali connection. Her husband Sreekanth, an award-winning light-designer hails from Thiruvananthapuram.
“Sreekanth and I met during one of our performances for Kairali TV held in Dubai. Now it has been seven years since we married,” says Monisa.
Kerala for Monisa is truly ‘God’s own country’, from the cascading rain to the aesthetic sense of people, Monisa is deeply in love with the state. “I gave a lecture demonstration at Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, on Saturday and I was overwhelmed by the students’ response. When I demonstrated kathak to the dance students and invited them to perform on stage, they replicated very well. The people in here are so sharp and focused. I would like to start a kathak dance school here sometime,” says Monisa.
On the occasion of ‘Guru Purnima’, Monisa and her students from Khanak Institute, in association with Cameo and Trivi Arts Concern, will perform in the capital city at Vailopilly Samskriti Bhavan on Monday at 6.30 pm.