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the-south-asian.com March 2004 |
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March
2004 Wildlife Music Dance Environment Art Books
Books Between
Heaven and Hell
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DANCING TO LORD SHIVA
by Avinash Kalla
Chitresh Das is a master of Kathak and has added a new dimension to it. The charismatic dancer is credited with developing Kathak Yoga, a new fad in California where he is based. Das would now like to research on this combination of dance and yoga. "I generate an excitement about the dance form and they come in droves to learn the art," says Chitresh Das, a former teacher of Kathak at the University of Maryland, USA. A bundle of energy, Das is a devout worshipper of Lord Shiva and attributes his talent to the God. He is one of the rare performers who is not just a master of the art but has added a new dimension to it. The charismatic dancer is credited with developing Kathak Yoga which is a new fad in California where he is based. Now Das has applied to the Harvard University to let him do more research on this combination of dance and yoga. " Like in other Indian dance forms there are yogic postures in Kathak as well. However, I have modified it and integrated a lot more yoga in the dance the way it was when Lord Shiva performed it. The Lord is the bases of my Kathak Yoga," says Das, a much sought-after exponent in the state of California where he has over a thousand students. Kathak Yoga, he explains, is a fascinating blend of rhythm and movement. Here the dancer overcomes the traditional handicap of dependency on the singer for thekas (pattern of reciting the movements). All that the dancer needs to do is to remember a few mathematical principles and then count the various cycles of beats while dancing. " It is a marriage of complex foot movements, smooth spins and soulful expressions resulting in channelising the life force energy into one’s inner self," explains Das. But this is just one of the feats of this artist. " Guruji once taught Kathak to a group of visually-impaired kids," says Farah Yasmeen Seikh his student for past eight years. Das nods and says, "I have taught visually-impaired children. Though the kids weren’t able to see me but they could sense me with their hands. As I did a step they held my hands and traced my movements and tried to repeat my actions. To everyone’s surprise when I recited the taals they were able to synchronise their movements a great deal." Founder of the Chitresh Das Dance Company, this man is on a mission to bridge tradition and modernity. " I am of the firm belief that tradition comes first whenever you learn something. For me my students need to understand the historical significance of Kathak before learning the dance," says Das. This is amply visible in his students, who, irrespective of their cultural origin, follow the tradition of India and the first thing they do when they meet anyone is fold their hands and say Namaskar. Das’s initiation to Kathak started at the age of ten under the guidance of Pandit Ram Narayan Mishra. The big leap came when he was awarded the Whitney Fellowship in1970 to teach Kathak at the University of Maryland. He was later invited to introduce Kathak at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music in San Rafael, USA. A decade later in 1980 he laid the foundation of Chhandam a school of Indian classical dance in San Francisco Bay area and the Chitresh Das Dance Company. In over a couple of decades the school has branches in Boston, Toronto and even Kolkata. At Chhandam students learn the history, etiquettes, philosophy and dance in the context of four aspects of Kathak: Tayari (Readiness of the mind and body), Layakari (understanding of rhythm), Khubsurti and Nazakat( beauty and delicacy). Das lays emphasis on the fact that dancers must explore the depths of their abilities. Last year he got his group to visit Siliguri and there, as he says " We just gazed at the Kunchenjunga Peak for three days. It gave the students a feel of the power of lord Shiva, something that can never be explained in words." A recipient of the prestigious Irvine Fellowship in Dance, Das says, " The idea is to bridge the gap between today’s generation and the ancient Hindu tradition." Ask him what keeps him so motivated and so spirited at 60 when most people are contemplating retirement, his answer is as intriguing as his dance form. " My mother always said dance like Nataraja, and I till I can do that I will keep dancing with all my strength and spirit." ***** |
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