Kathak is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as Kathakaar ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the Hindu epics through dance, songs, and music. Its name derives from the Sanskrit word kathaa which means "story", and kathakaar which means "the one who tells a story" or "to do with stories". As time went on the dance-form acquired aspects of technical movement expertise in addition to the story-telling features, so that nowadays performers usually give equal emphasis to both.

Kathak evolved during the Bhakti movement, particularly by incorporating the childhood and stories of the Hindu deity Krishna, as well as independently in the courts of north Indian kingdoms. Kathak performances include Urdu ghazal and commonly used instruments brought during the Mughal period. As a result, it is the only Indian classical dance form to feature Persian elements.

Stylistically, the Kathak dance form emphasizes rhythmic foot movements, with the ankles adorned with small bells (Ghungroo) and the movement harmonized to the music and especially its rhythm. The legs and torso are generally straight, and if a story is being told, it is through a developed vocabulary based on the gestures of arms and upper body movement, facial expressions, neck movements, eyes and eyebrow movement, stage movements, bends, and turns. The main focus of the dance becomes the eyes and the foot movements. The eyes work as a medium of communication of the story the dancer is trying to communicate. With the eyebrows the dancer gives various facial expressions. in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly by Akbar, but stagnated and went into decline during the British colonial era,

Etymology and nomenclature

The term Kathak is rooted in the Vedic term Katha () which means "story, conversation, traditional tale". It differs from the numerous folk dance forms found in the north and other parts of the Indian subcontinent.

The Kathak dancers in ancient India were traveling bards and were known as Kathakas

Kathak has inspired simplified regional variants, such as the Bhavai – a form of rural theatre focusing on the tales of Hindu people (Shakti) – and one which emerged in the medieval era, and is presently found in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. Another variant that emerged from ancient Kathak is Thumri.<small>"Bells Of Change: Kathak Dance, Women And Modernity In India"</small>, also see <small>"The Tawaif And The Item Girl: A Struggle For Identity"</small>

History

thumb|Performance by Sharmila Sharma and Rajendra Kumar Gangani at the [[Guimet Museum (November 2007)|alt=|left]]

According to Mary Snodgrass, the Kathak tradition of India is traceable to 400 BCE. The earliest surviving text with Kathak roots is the Natya Shastra, Dance and performance arts, states this ancient Hindu text, are a form of expression of spiritual ideas, virtues, and the essence of scriptures.

The 2nd century BCE panels found in Bharhut show the dancers in a vertical stance with their arms' positions already suggesting today's Kathak movements. Most of the dancers have one arm near the ear in a <nowiki>pataka hasta</nowiki> (mudra). In subsequent years, the hasta was lowered to the bust level.

The term Kathakas in the sense of "storytellers" appears in ancient Hindu texts, such as the Mahabharata:

Bards, actors, dancers, songsters, and musical reciters of legends and stories are mentioned hundreds of times in the Hindu Epics.

Bhakti movement era

Textual studies suggest that Kathak as a classical dance form likely started in Banares (Varanasi) and from there migrated northwest to Lucknow, Jaipur, and other parts of north and northwest India. The Lucknow tradition of Kathak dance attributes the style to a Bhakti movement devotee named Ishwari from the Handia village in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, who credited Hindu god Krishna appearing in his dream and asking him to develop "dance as a form of worship".]]

The evolution in Kathak dance theme during the Bhakti movement centered primarily around divine Krishna, his lover Radha, and milkmaids (gopis) – around legends and texts such as the Bhagavata Purana found in the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism.

The emergence of Raslila, mainly in the Braj region (Mathura in Western U.P.) was an important development. It combined in itself music, dance, and the narrative. Dance in Raslila, however, was mainly an extension of the basic mime and gestures of the Kathakars or story-tellers which blended easily with the existing traditional dance.

Mughal era

With the coming of the Mughals, this dance form received a new impetus. A transition from the temple courtyard to the palace durbar took place which necessitated changes in presentation. In both Hindu and Muslim courts, Kathak became highly stylized and came to be regarded as a sophisticated Islamic form of entertainment. Under the Muslims, there was a greater stress on nritya and bhavag - the dance's graceful, expressive, and sensuous dimensions.

The Mughal era courts and nobles accepted Kathak as a form of aristocratic entertainment, which low income families were willing to provide. According to Drid Williams:

thumb|Namrata Rai (Kathak Dancer) while performing Sufi poetries in a concert Over time, the Kathak repertoire added Persian and Central Asian themes, such as the whirling of Sufi dance. The dress replaced sari with items that bared midriff and included a transparent veil of the type common with medieval Harem dancers. When the colonial European officials began arriving in India, the Kathak court entertainment they witnessed was a synthesis of the ancient Indian tradition and Central Asian-Persian dance form.

British Raj era

With the expansion of British colonial rule in 19th-century India, Kathak along with all other classical dance forms were discouraged and it went into decline. This was in part the result of the Victorian morality of sexual repressiveness along with Anglican missionaries who criticized Hinduism. Officials and newspapers dehumanized the Kathak dancers and the sources of patronage were pressured to stop supporting the Kathak performing "nautch girls" (also termed as devadasis and tawa'ifs in mid 20th century literature).

Not only did missionaries and colonial officials ridicule the Kathak dancers, Indian men who had been educated in British institutions and had adapted to Victorian prudery also joined the criticism, states Margaret Walker, possibly because they had lost their cultural connection, no longer understood the underlying spiritual themes behind the dance, and assumed this was one of the "social ills, immoral and backward elements" in their heritage that they must stamp out.

Post-independence era

The movement to end the colonial era and for an independent India, states Walker, also witnessed a revival of Kathak and more broadly, a cultural ferment and effort to reclaim culture and rediscover history. thumb|left|State of 'sam' performed by [[Manisha Gulyani]]The Kathak revival movements co-developed in Hindu gharanas, particularly by the Kathak-Misra community. It was inspired by the diploma syllabus of Mohanrao Kallianpurkar at Bhatkhande College.

According to a BBC Arts article, Kathak is unique in being practiced by the Muslim community of the India, and thus has a "historical link to Islam." Farah Yasmeen Shaikh, a Muslim and a disciple of Pandit Chitresh Das in the Lucknow school, considers Kathak as a "confluence of Hindu and Muslim cultures", and has presented her performance in Pakistan. In contrast, states BBC, Nahid Siddiqui (a legendary Kathak dancer from Pakistan, settled and nurtured in the UK), "has a hard time practising and presenting her [Kathak] art in her birth-country of Pakistan".

Repertoire

thumb|Chakkarwala tukra is a swirling part, here performed by [[Richa Jain]]

A modern Kathak, in all three major sub-traditions called Lucknow, Banares, and Jaipur styles (gharana), states Bruno Nettl, consist of three main sections - the invocation, one pure (abstract) dance recital, and one expressive dance. A Kathak performance can be solo, duo, or team. In a technical performance, the speed and energy the dancers exchange with the audience increases in multiples, that is, the tempo doubles or quadruples. During the performance, one or more of the Kathak artists may come to the microphone, interact with the audience, explain something, tell an anecdote in a particular language, or rhythmically recite a song.

Most of the Nritta performance is abstract, fast, and rhythmic.

Expressive dance (Nritya)

thumb|The expressive (nritya) stage of the Kathak dance, in Hindu dress

Nritya is a slower and expressive aspect of Kathak that attempts to communicate feelings and storyline particularly with spiritual themes in Hindu dance traditions. It will usually have an embroidered border that helps highlight the dance motion. The skirt is contrasted with a different color choli, and a transparent scarf typically drapes over it and the dancer's head. Jewelry is typically present in the second variation.

The Muslim dress for female dancers also uses a skirt, but includes close fitting churidar pyjamas and sometimes a long coat covering hands and the upper body. The head has a cover scarf and the jewelry is light. Another variation features the Kathak dancer wearing an anarkali, a tunic with a flared skirt that can fall down to the dancer's ankles. The dancers wear churidar pyjamas or trousers underneath the anarkali.

The Hindu dress for male Kathak performers is typically a silk dhoti draped around the waist, and covered with a silk scarf tied over the top. The upper body is usually left bare or with only the Hindu thread, but is sometimes covered with a loose sleeveless jacket. Kathak male artists also wear jewellery, but often of stones and much simpler than the female artists.

The Mughal dress for male Kathak performers is kurta-churidar. The kurta can be a simple one, or cut as an angarkha. There is also the possibility of adapting the angarkha or kurta for dance to incorporate wider flare in the lower portion. Particularly older variety dress includes the small peaked cap too.

thumb|left|A tabla drummer and other musicians play for a Kathak dancer.

Instruments

The ensemble of musical instruments vary with any Kathak performer, ranging from two to twelve classical Indian instruments, or more in versions with synthetic innovations.

Music

The ancient music genre of India, Dhrupad, was re-introduced into Kathak for the first time by India's senior Kathak exponent Mahamahopadhyay Dr. Pandit Puru Dadheech. He is India's first Kathak dancer to bring back Dhrupad on the formal Kathak stage and this composition in 28 matra. Shankar Pralayankar, his Dhrupad composition, has the unique status of regularly being sung in concerts by Dhrupad maestros the Gundecha Brothers.

Gharanas

Kathak is a diffuse tradition, of which three gharanas (schools) are most well known and studied – Jaipur, Varanasi, and Lucknow. The schools place different relative emphasis between aspects of a Kathak performance, such as the acting versus footwork. The Lucknow style, for example, emphasizes acting while Jaipur style emphasizes the dance and footwork. The Jaipur style developed under the sponsorship of Rajput rulers, and they favored the Kathak dance with Hindu religious themes. In the modern era, this school has continued their emphasis on dance and footwork with Jai Lal, Janki Prasad, Kundan Lal, Mohan Lal, and Nawal Kishore. This school is best known for its systematic innovations in rhythmic dancing, and the use of dance movement to express a story.

The Lucknow gharana of Kathak dance attributes its origins to a rural Krishna devotee named Ishwari from the village in southeast Uttar Pradesh, who aimed to develop Kathak dance as a form of loving devotion to Krishna. This school has also attempted a Hindu-Muslim Kathak fusion style, highlighting the court dancers' theme. but one whose ancestors were famed dancers and musicians.

According to Nicole Lehmann, modern Kathak dancers show, to varying degrees, a fusion of the styles from all three gharanas.

Relationship with other art forms

The north Indian Kathak dance differs from the south Indian Bharatanatyam in several ways, even though both have roots in the Hindu text Natya Shastra. Kathak expressions – particularly in Hindu devotional styles – are more introverted and withdrawn, while Bharatanatyam is more extroverted and expansive. Kathak is normally performed in a standing form with legs and torso typically straight, while Bharatanatyam extensively utilizes bent knee form (ara mandi, half sitting position that is somewhat similar to Demi Plié ballet move).

Kathak is also different from Kathakali, though both are Indian classical dance traditions of "story play" wherein the stories have been traditionally derived from the Hindu epics and the Puranas. Kathakali traditionally has been troupes of predominantly male actor-dancers, who dress up as hero, heroines, gods, goddesses, demons, demonesses, priests, animals, and daily life characters.

According to Miriam Phillips, the Indian Kathak and the Spanish Flamenco dance share many visual, rhythmic, and kinesthetic similarities.

<gallery>

File:Kathak dance.jpg|Kathak facial expressions

File:Kathak Duet Performance (5).jpg|Kathak duet performance

File:Kathak dancer Namrata Rai with her group.jpg|Kathak group performance

File:Kathak Dancers Namrata Rai & Vishal Krishna.jpg|Namrata Rai and Vishal Krishna

File:Kathak Facial Expressions (14).jpg|Sufi style-based Kathak

File:Kathak Rounds (13).jpg|Kathak pirouettes

</gallery>

See also

  • List of Kathak exponents
  • Khattak dance

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • , Table of Contents
  • Kothari, Sunil (1989) Kathak: Indian Classical Dance Art, Abhinav Publications, New Delhi.
  • Kippen, James and Bel, Andreine Lucknow Kathak Dance, Bansuri, Volume 13, 1996
  • Pt. Birju Maharaj (2002) Ang Kavya : Nomenclature for Hand Movements and Feet Positions in Kathak, New Delhi, Har-Anand, photographs, .
  • Bharti Gupta (2004) Kathak Sagar, New Delhi, Radha Pub.,
  • Sushil Kumar Saxena (2006) Swinging Syllables Aesthetics of Kathak Dance, New Delhi, Hope India Publications,
  • Shivvangini Classes Shiva Mathur(Lucknow Kathak Dance)
  • Dr. Puru Dadheech Kathak Nritya Shiksha, Bindu Publications, Indore, MP, India
  • Narayan, Shovana (2004) Kathak, Wisdom Tree,
  • Marami Medhi & Debasish Talukdar (2022) Kathak Volume-1 A Theoretical and Practical Guide
  • Courtesans and Choreographers: The (Re) Placement of Women in the History of Kathak Dance, Margaret Walker (2010)
  • Becoming the Floor/Breaking the Floor: Experiencing the Kathak-Flamenco Connection, Mariam Phillips (2013)
  • Ganesh Vandana, Meghranjani Medhi, Section 1: Invocation of a three part Kathak dance
  • A Kathak performance, Shinjini Kulkarni, Aarohan (2015)