KARACHI:
A two-day Kathak dance presentation titled Aqsaam-e-Naach: Andaaz-e-Kathak was held on the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi, showcasing the self-discipline, grace and expressive depth of certainly one of South Asia’s most refined classical dance traditions.
Choreographed by famend Kathak maestro Mohsin Babar, the efficiency introduced collectively 12 scholarship college students from his Kathak Faculty of Performing Arts — the town’s first academy devoted solely to Kathak coaching.
The programme featured eight items, introduced by way of a mixture of group compositions and solo performances. Audiences skilled each conventional Kathak repertoire and interpretive works, together with Thumri, Tarana, Guru Vandana and ghazal-based compositions, alongside stylistic variations akin to fusion Tarana, providing a layered presentation of the dance kind’s vary and flexibility.
Talking with The Specific Tribune, Mr Babar stated the title “Andaaz-e-Kathak” mirrored the assorted aqsaam (kinds) of raqs introduced through the efficiency.
“These embrace Thumri, Tarana, Guru Vandana and ghazal all important types of Kathak that we carried out immediately,” he stated. “The second half was carried out stay with music so the viewers might see all the things occurring in actual time. The aim of performing stay was to disclose the true essence of Thumri, which is usually misunderstood in our society.”
He added that one of many key goals of the present was to problem social taboos related to dance, significantly the ghungroo, the ankle bells worn by classical dancers.
“The ghungroo is solely the dancer’s instrument, simply because the tabla is for a tabla participant,” he stated. “Thumri is just not one thing inappropriate it’s an expressive and musical instrument inside Kathak.”
Mr Babar described stay interplay between musicians and dancers, generally generally known as jugalbandi as a vital a part of the classical custom, permitting rhythm, improvisation and expression to unfold organically on stage.
He stated the broader goal of Aqsaam-e-Naach was to maintain Kathak alive at a time when classical dance struggles to seek out area in mainstream cultural discourse.
“Kathak’s again has nearly been damaged in our society,” he stated. “We try to protect it and take it ahead.”
For a lot of in attendance, the occasion served not solely as a cultural showcase but additionally as an effort to reintroduce Kathak as a residing, evolving artwork kind inside Pakistan’s modern cultural panorama.
