Seher organizes the Ananya Dance Festival, group dance choreographs, in the month of October every year. I had the opportunity to witness the second and third days too of this year’s festival that portrays the rich culture of our nation. Here I bring to you, larger public, through my pictures and notes (from seher’s website) the imprints of these evenings.

Day 3: Vaswati Misra and Dhwani Group – kathak
Day 2: Vijayanti Kashi and Shambavi Dance Ensemble – Kuchipudi

Vaswati Misra and Dhwani Group

Vaswati Misra

Vaswati’s love for dance began as a young child of 7, she received training first under the tutelage of Smt Reba Vidyarthi and then had the good fortune to be groomed by the great kathak maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj. An immensely talented dancer by the age of ten Vaswati was already dancing on stage. Performing both as a soloist as well as with her husband, dancer Krishan Mohan Misra she was acclaimed both for her command over the technique of the dance form as well as her expressieve qualities.
A successful choreographer and a soloist of repute Vaswati performed in prestigious festivals like Baba Allaudin Khan Samaroh, Bindadin Kathak Mahotsav, Khajuraho, Orchha Mahotsava, Nishagandhi Festival, Sangeet Natak Akademi’s 50th celebration, Qutub Festival and travelled to U.S.A, Japan, South Africa, latin America, the Middle East, Mexico and entire Europe.
In 1979 Vaswati joined the Sriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra as a teacher and was there for eight years, in 1989 she held the post of Kathak Guru at the Kathak Kendra, New Delhi was there again for eight years, in 1997 she resigned from Kathak Kendra and two years later, combining her passion for performance and education she set up an arts education centre the Pandit Shambhu Maharaj Kathak Academy as the educational wing of Dhwani, continued to grow with additions of a repertory and Zaroorat, a school for the underprivileged.

Dhwani Group

Dhwani is a cultural organization founded by leading proponents of Kathak, Shri Krishan Mohan Misra and Vaswati Misra in 1984.

It seeks to preserve and promote the performing and fine arts traditions of India by organizing choreographed dance, theatrical and musical performances of the highest caliber.
Trained under the auspices of the maestro- Pt Birju Maharaj himself, Vaswati Misra has perfected the technique and grammar of Kathak through her career spanning 40 years. Her choreographed pieces have been widely acclaimed by audiences and connoisseurs across the globe. Over the years, Vaswati Misra and Dhwani has built a reputation for collaborating with a diverse profile of artists and performers- from indigenous and folk artists to children from challenging backgrounds, from the greatest maestros, writers and actors of our times to young debutants- many of whom have been nurtured into accomplished performers in their own right.

Each performance by Dhwani is crafted to perfect the interpretation of sound and beat, the balance of strong yet lyrical body movements, powerful foot-work and subtle expressions. They are unique in their highly contemporary and aesthetic interpretation of a very traditional form.

Dhwani is empanelled with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, the Ministry of Culture and CID UNESCO.

Concept Note

Founded by dancer and choreographer, Vaswati Misra, The DHwani Repertory is made up of dancers whose versatility, virtuosity and dynamic movement quality, owes itself to the training imparted by Vaswati Misra. Their performances resonate with a long history of cultural traditions and are the result of explorations into elements that make Kathak the dance form that it is. Herself, an accomplished artiste of the Lucknow Gharana of Kathak, Vaswati finds inspiration for her choreography within the structural boundaries of Kathak as it has grown and developed over the countries.

Concepts like Bhaav bataana (the expression of a mood, seated on stage) Padhant, (where the mood and feeling inherent in mnemonic syllables are explored) or forms based on traditional musical genres like gats, taraaanaas and kavits are recreated in a matter that often fuse the perceived boundaries between dance and music, the traditional and the contemporary.

At the Ananya Dance Festival, The Dhwani Repertory will present an eclectic selection of some of its shorter works as well as some excerpts from production like Jeevan and Kalpataru.

——————————————-
Vyjayanthi Kashi and Shambhavi Dance Ensemble

Vyjayanthi Kashi

Dancer par excellence Vyjayanthi Kashi’s career spans over an impressive spectrum of performance, choreography, teaching acting and research. Her works has been featured in several International festivals including the Oriental Dance Festival Germany, Festival of India in Africa, India Film Festival in Malaga, Olympic Festival in Italy, First International Kuchipudi Dance Convention at California the dance and music festival in US, International Dance & Music Festival in Egypt, Malta, Tunisia, Karmiel Dance Festival in Israel and many more.

She serves on the Arts and Cultural Committee of the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural, Government of India. Founder of the Shambhavi School of Dance she has trained many dance aspirants round the world. She has been honored with several awards including Kala Shree, Zee Astitva, Araya Bhatta and Vocational Excellence Awards. She was recently awarded with the Central Sangeeth Natak Academy Puraskar, the Rajyotsava award 2010 for her contribution to Kuchipudi and more. She has recently been appointed as the Chairman of the Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy.

Ms. Prateeksha Kashi

As a child, it is said that Prateeksha sang and danced the whole of the dance drama AMBE from Mahabharata when she was just three years young. Ever since, she is being trained in Kuchipudi under the guidance of her mother and Guru Smt. Vyjayanthi Kashi. At the age of thirteen, Prateeksha topped the state in the Kuchipudi dance exams with a distinction. Prateeksha has presented solo performances in many prestigious festivals in India and abroad to mention a few , Festival of Dance – Los Angelis, Dance Festival – New York, Milap Festival – U K and more…

She is a recipient of “Nalanda Nritya Nipuna”, an award instituted by the Nalanda Dance Research Centre and also a recipient of the prestigious scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Govt of India. Prateeksha also has the credit of being featured in many dance productions for the television media and is a graded artist of the Doordarshan Kendra. She is now dancing and playing prominent roles in almost all the dance dramas with her seniors for many national dance festivals.
Concept Note

This compilation is an attempt to map the evolution of the ‘Kuchipudi’ dance form which originally was performed only as a dance drama to its current form where the solo format of presentation also has gained in popularity. The journey of the accompanying music & choreography as they changed with the evolution is also captured.

1) Salutations to Balatripurasundari
The presentation begins with a salutation song to Kuchupudi Vani also known as Balatripurasundari the goddess of the kuchipudi village. This composition by Nritya Vachaspati Guru Vedantam Parvateesam heaps praises on Kuchupudi Vani and the richness of the art form. She is praised for her mellifluous vocals, chatur-vidha abhinaya & navarasa skills.

2) Shrusthi:
Shrushti or the emergence of the universe resulted from pranavanadham , the om or omkara. The universe being made up of the Pancha Bhutas – aakasha, vayu, agni, jalam and pritvi whose combination gives way for life or jeevothpattas . Life after undergoing different stages of evolution culminates into the human form filled with all the worldly desires or kama, Resulting in – Janma Janmantharam, Karma Karmaantharam { Kalaya Thasmai Namaha} . Vyjayanthi Kashi has weaved the beejaksharas Ham, Yam, Ram, Lam and Vam corresponding to the five elements into the jatti format.

3) Tarangam:
This is a special number in Kuchipudi. The song accompanying this number is from the well-known “Krishnaleela Tarangini”, a text that recounts the life and events of Lord Krishna by Saint Narayan Theertha who uses various literary and musical forms such as songs, prose passages, slokas & dwipadis.
Vyjayanthi Kashi has knit in the various literary aspects of this musical opera into this tarangam “Pahi Pahi Pahi…”along with the melody of the swaras and tanams . A special element of skill is involved here. The dancers use various pada karmas and dance on the rim of a brass plate. The brass plate is the symbol of Karmakanda: one’s field of activity. And the dancer is a Karma Yogi: highly disciplined with the knowledge of some footwork. Dancing on the rim indicates the human possibilities to reach beyond the limits
Raga Amruta Varshini, tala Adi

4) Thillana:
The concluding presentation is Thillana. It is a salutation to the Sun God symbolizing that the end is the beginning. Choreographed to rhythmic intricacies and choreographic patterns, this thillana is a tribute to the fact that a performance never truly concludes but like the rising of the sun it is the beginning of many more to come.