I recently finished up my final research presentation for theatre, in which I give a presentation about my chosen theatre tradition and convention and how I learned about it as a performer. Right before my criteria C was due, I went to a Kathak performance which shares many similarities with Kathakali, the theatre tradition I chose.

The performance was at the High Commission of India’s Swami Vivekananda cultural centre, and they were having it in celebration of Indian Teacher Appreciation Day. They started off with a speech about the importance of celebrating teachers and their value to us, before handing over to the performers to give a brief address to the crowd. Hari, one of the Kathak dancers who tours with his partner Chethana, talked about how in their city of Bangalore there wasn’t any Kathak institutes around and how all his learning had come from his mother who had become his guru. He has since travelled the world with notable places being the Netherlands and the US.

The dance of Kathak requires intricate footwork, sounding the bells tied around the ankles, and moving to precise rhythmic patterns that dancers articulate by stomping their feet. The dance of Kathak also shares the convention of mudras with Kathakali which is what prompted me to go.

I admired at how composed the dancers could remain whilst doing such difficult moves. The quick changes between mudras made me wonder how long it took to perfect it. The dancers swayed to the music, their faces crafting expressions telling the story with such emotion that even if you didn’t know anything about the dance you could understand exactly what was going o

n and how the characters felt.

There was also a performance by Shringar Pattnaik who told the story of the defeat of the demoness Poothana by Lord Krishna, which is the exact story I did for my exploration of a traditional theatre text. I was so pleased when I saw how he embodied the character the way I did and how the mudras I applied to the scenario worked well with how the story went.

The most mind-blowing thing about this form of dance is how you can’t learn it by yourself with the use of the internet. All these meticulous dances and their order, the movement between mudras, the chanting of the musicians has all been passed down through generations. Each learner of this craft dedicates their life towards it and then goes on to pass it along to the next, like Hari and Chethana are doing with their daughter.

Below I have placed a video of Hari and Chethana performing so you can understand just how much work goes into the dance.

It was an honour to be able to watch this spectacle and meet with the sweetest dancers there are. My hopes are that I can meet them once more someday and see more performances.

Featured Image Credit: Eloise Golding