Dance schools in kathak owe it’s origin to Birju Maharaj and his clan! Nowadays, that even after so many years, the repertoire of kathak revolves around Krishna and Radha and their amorous love play.
True to the memory of Pandit Birju Maharaj, Gauri Diwakar school of Kathak dedicated their dance extravaganza ” Brij shyam” to Maharajji and his life long body of work on Krishna.
Being an eyewitness to many younger students who have grown up with Gauri and trained to next level of performance one wonders if the children will develop their own vocabulary away from their gurus!
Gauri’s tight grip over the students and their positions in thumri, raas, kavitt and pure kathak padhants made the evening worth watching with perfect light work and costume design.
The fusion of Samimullah Khan’s musical composition into the production year after year was the highest point in the kathak items.
The movements of Naga (नाग देवता) in shiv stuti, भाल नेत्र त्रिनेत्र, जाने दे जाने दे thumri by Ashima, Trishna, Radhika as opening set the mood for raasleela item ” Rasa rachat nand laala”
थिरत थिरत सब देत ताल,
जाए कोटि कोटि परी हारी,
गोविंदा गोविंदा गोपाला!
The subsequent hori in raag Desh
” Hori aayi re rang gholna”
Made the children wonder in limelight as to how difficult it is make a stage presence when you are merely a student of dance.
In comparison senior student like Saumya Narang and Nidhisha Varshney are now seasoned in displaying emotional side of their guru.
केरी करत कान्हा संग भाए,
छपत n छुपे चंद्र जियारी,
झुरमुट मध्य छुपे नहीं वारे,
इत उत छुपत न आवत कान्हा,
पकड़ी बाह दी गरबा लगाए,
शरद चंद्र सो मुख आए !
Gauri Diwakar abhinaya ang in a sitting position and decoupling the bond between the ethereal Radha and Sri Krishna in a intimate setting brought a lovely end to the annual festival !
Feature image credit: Sanjit Debroy
