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Of grace, mudra and ghungru

Vishal Krishna's showcasing of Kathak

Rachel Priyanka Perris
Kathak prodigy Vishal Krishna sets off the second edition of Bengal Classical Music Festival 2013 through showcasing aesthetic grace and expression, enthralling mudra and movements along with speed. For me, the artiste seemed like performing across the universe, tossing the sky and air yet at the same time, kissing the beauty of earth.
Kathak is one of nine classical dance forms, initially practiced in royal court of Mughals. The evolution of Kathak dance followed three major changing courses/trends -Devdasi, Rajdashi and Baiji. Kathak predominantly portrays telling tales through dance recitals.
Vishal showcased several kathak pieces on the opening day of the Bengal Classical Music Festival '13 held in Dhaka's Army Stadium. The artiste started off with a devotional piece "Devi Stuti". Based on teentaal and raga Charukeshi; he performed alapchari that is actually termed as nritta (pure dance). His next item was paran with the bol of pakhawaj. The paran was composed by Nataraj Gopikrishna. Vishal's great grandfather Sukhdev Maharaj is the forerunner of Benaras gharana.
Vishal styled new techniques of kathak incorporating Chhau and Kuchipudi dance mudra in presenting layakari with balanced footwork in plate dance.
Later, he performed off-beat tehai,
chakradar, chalan of a horse amid tehai and abhinoy-ang dance gaut where he first enacted Lord Krishna and later a blissful peacock shaking its feature amid rain. Vishal's concluding performance was truly fascinating where he recited a composition of his grandmother's sister Alokananda Devi's special dance style. His footwork was exquisite. He produced sounds of only ghungru and nothing else that captivated the audience. Vishal's interaction with his brother Kushal Krishna, on the tabla, was excellent. Their father directed music for the entire performance
The erstwhile "Selami" of Mughal
Darbar and the presentation of Vishal "Pronami" had quite dissimilarity. Vishal Krishna styled splitting and stretching amid his performances. The inception of "Marg" in Kathak dance is a new addition. It covers bandana, alapchari, paran, gaut etcetera. In his performance, Vishalji used costumes and props - dhuti and benian, Krishna mukut at head and belt at waist - which showed a significant difference with the costumes of decades ago.
Vishal, as child prodigy, attained the excellence and expertise of Kathak within a very short span of time. He is an expert on the mathematics of Kathak dance. His dance style containing softness, thamak and idiosyncratic gesture-throwing while returning to shorn were fascinating. Classical dance is always creative and modern. Vishal's presentation seemed like a modern kathak style. Though Kathak has a legacy of a thousand years, this performance reminded of classical dance as always evolving and creative.
In a nutshell, the essence of the genres Vishal performed was as colourful as the twilight sky. I was fortunate to watch a documentary film on Nritya Samraggi Sitara Devi, the grandmother of Vishal Krishna. The mudra throwing of Sitara Devi and Vishal Krishna had quite a striking resemblance.
The writer is a Gaudiya dancer-scholar, and a disciple of Professor Mahua Mukherjee.