Dance

"Clearly what holds the attention is the powerful spiritual substance of this kind of performance. The performers enter with reverence and go through some form of invocations before the show begins."

"When at last the gods triumph once more over evil, the tension breaks, the music stops, and slowly the drum beats cease. Almost unwillingly one wakes up from the reverie, tired and exhausted, but triumphant as one who has danced with gods."

"Within five hours these small somewhat bandy and rather tired men were to transform themselves into awe-inspiring and terrible gods. .. The actors lay down upon the floor and soon seem to be asleep, breathing heavily and deeply…But this, it is said is the time that the inner transformation into god or demon will get underway …The actors are wakened; gait and gesture have been changed; the look in the eyes has become intimidating"

"The object of this pantomime is a form of magical transformation...Kathakali is at once ritual as well as drama...It remains modern and at the same time ritualistic in its abstract characterization, in its concentration on the visuals, and in its belief in magical transformation."

"It [Kathak] is a different art form, where there is more of abhinaya."

"One of the eight forms of India's classical dances, Kathak, meaning “story teller,” originated in northern India, and there are references to this dance form in sources dating from the third and fourth centuries B.C. Kathak dance, today characterized by fast, rhythmic footwork, became sophisticated court entertainment with the advent of Mogul culture in northern India."

"Natya Shastra was the root for both Bharata Natyam and Kathak, and both are of the same period. Kathak, which flourished in the North, was in the direct eye of the typhoon of invasions."

"The dance form also underwent a mute period for 2 or 3 centuries. When it was revived by the Moghul emperors it became a secular kind of dance. But there are several actions which still have a strong Vaishnava touch."

"First of all, classical shouldn't be called a dance. We present various expressions on abstract music, which has no meaning and no name. Interestingly, the sound and the expression depict the feeling of love or anger and hence the entire katha can be presented… it means a kind of wind is blowing and through hands, water and other five elements of earth are explained."

"With those elegant footwork and gravity-defying turns Kathak opens a fantastical world before a dabbler, who is sure to fall deeply in love with its mesmerising ways."

"Kathak has three gharanas or genres named after three culturally-rich places, Lucknow, Banaras and Jaipur."

"Kathak has a very flexible language when compared to other classical dance forms. Due to its similarities with Spanish Flamenco dance, there are many who believe that Flamenco has been originated in India. Kathak the term was derived from ‘kathakar’ (story teller) who used to narrate vignettes from Ramayana and Mahabharatha at Hindu temples. Later on, Kathak moved to courts because of Muslim invasions. Girls from Persia(courtesans) were brought in and they performed Kathak before the Mogul kings."

"One of the most emphatic dance forms that the City of Nawabs has given - the Lucknow Gharana of Kathak, which came into existence mainly in the court of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the ruler of Avadh in 19th Century. Kathak, its exponents say, was so powerful that no other dance form posed a challenge to it for a long period."

"Dance styles depend on the sociological background of the people who first started practising them. Take Kathak, for example. It was with the Muslim invasion that Hindustani classical music received prominence. They brought with them the tawaifs, who, along with the existing kathakas or storytellers, gave Kathak its flavour. And then, Kathak went into the darbari mode. Post that, elements of raas leela started being incorporated into Kathak, which is now, a versatile product of these influences."

"It's sad that the art form is not appreciated in its place of origin, Lucknow, despite being popular across the globe."

"The dance style has not changed but with less time and more work, the duration has decreased,""

"Earlier, parents used to make their children learn this dance as a respect towards it, but now, many come to learn it to make it their profession and harbour dreams of becoming stars."

"There is a new trend of foreign students coming to India, specifically to pursue full-time degree courses in Kathak and learn the nuances of this dance style."

"Dance is the best yoga. Yoga is all about maintaining the concentration and finding a balance, that is exactly what we do while we dance Kathak. It's always about concentrating on 'talas' and 'w:laya:layas' and catching smallest of beats. After years that I have put behind my art, I have achieved a fine tuned balance that goes much deeper than making me able to handle my art form well."

"All is the play of beats and they will always remain the same as ever, you can only add instruments; so fusion is fine if created esthetically. My only concern always has been, is of maintaining the purity of our forms and not creating a fusion that confuses the audience in identifying the original beauty and qualities of our traditional dances."

"Raigarh Darbar, an elite form of Kathak, encompasses the best of Kathak styles of Jaipur and Lucknow gharana. Raigarh gharana although new, has its own compositions of thumris, ghazals, todas and bols which are unique in themselves."

"In the Hindu period the dancers used to wear ghagras or saris. At the Muslim court they had to adopt the durbar dress, which was the Peshwaz worn over churidhars, seen in the Moghal paintings."

"The costume changes have over the years been adopted by kathak dancers, mainly because the peshwaz is more comfortable and also allows viewers to see the intricate footwork which gets obstructed by saris and long ghagras. Rao uses all three costumes for her dancers-saris, ghagra-sari and the peshwaz."

"We have several parans or rhythmic patterns based on Ganesha, which are recited or sung, along with accompaniment on the tablas. Similarly there are verses dedicated to Siva and Saraswati. There's a special invocation for Krishna, who is the patron saint of kathak dancers"

"We dance to ghazals (Urdu poems), thumris (a genre of semi-classical Indian music) and taranas (a type of Hindustani classical vocal music). There is also a spontaneity and subtle ‘abhinaya’ about Kathak. We usually dance to the syllables of tabla and pakhawaj hence there is a lot of intricate footwork,"

"I was taken away by the nagma (tune), taal (rhythm) and that extempore quality of kathak. There was that openness about the art form which I could easily connect with."

"...I take Kathak as an example, is that we are living in a very different kind of world from when Kathak first took shape and the needs of our present society are ever changing. There is a whole new generation of Indians who belong to an international and cosmopolitan community. The world is closing in on us, so to speak, and just as people from different cultures and religions are interrelating through technology, migration, hitech communication, dance also wants to be involved in this process. We are no longer living in the temples or courts; hence we must make a great leap into the international arena of dance."

"Choreography, as understood today, requires the dance form to be put into a different kind of space. This requires a new approach of the known structures to suit new concepts. It is simply safer to keep looking over your shoulder for material from the past rather than facing the vast, open plain before you. We must come out of this safe corner and have the courage to confront this thing called creation."

"Solo Kathak dance did not excite me any more because it had developed too much gimmickry to it. However, I was deeply rooted in dance and the technique of Kathak itself was very artistic and complete. The way it was presented needed a lot of consideration. A performance needs to embody a certain dignity and finesse. This was my very first commitment to the presentation of Kathak. In my vision, I saw the entire stage filled with dancers, patterns of colours, music which had musicality and not just an accompanying element."

"Music has always been a companion to dance. One cannot think of dance without music. In classical Kathak dance, music played the role of timekeeper in the form of a "lehara" played on the sarangi. Vocal music was only used in the performance of "thumri", "bhajan", or "hori" where a dancer enacted "abhinaya" word to word. Creative music was never a part of Kathak."

"...in the Kathak format, which have for long been forgotten by solo dancers. In their impulse to gain instant popularity they have concentrated only on what brings an instant response from the audiences. To this day I have not had to look outside the Kathak technique for movements and forms."

"The aesthetics of a dance form springs from the land of its origin."

"...the most beautiful and complete language of movements through which the Indian dancer provides the concrete manifestation of the inner state and vision of his/her existence, of the truth of all experiences, by art."

"Hasthalakshanadeepika, the ancient Sanskrit classical text on the dances of Kerala, mentions 24 basic mudras or hand-gestures, which are in use in the classical dance dramas of Kerala. Mohiniyattam, in particular, uses them."

"...the relationship among the traditional forms of Mohiniyattam, Nangiar Koothu and Thiruvathirakali — all of which feature female artistes."

"Like most classical arts in Kerala, it's the youth festivals that are keeping Mohiniyattam alive among the younger generation. Youth fetes are a good thing but they are just not enough for the future of performing arts. Now that they've taken out the Kalaparthibha-Kalathilakam titles and started awarding grades instead of first place, second place...in competitions, I find that it is actually a little demoralising for the young performers. After all, who doesn't want to win? They would have worked hard enough for it as it is. The government needs to be much more proactive. Much like they help sports persons get placements, why can't the Government support those who choose performing arts as a career? Not only would such a move be an incentive for people to take up performing arts but it would also ensure that the arts sustain themselves."

"In the absence of a well-defined structure, Mohiniyattam had earned qualifiers like ‘poor cousin of Bharatanatyam, ‘an off-shoot of Kathakali' and so on during the 60s and the 70s. This had motivated quite a few dancers to make serious attempts to provide the dance form with an identity indigenous to Kerala;"

"Mohiniattam has long been referred to as the Bharatanatyam from Kerala. There was once a time when it was also called a 'bad imitation of Bharatanatyam. But all that has changed now."

"Year 1960 onwards, Mohiniattam, in spite of being a very old dance form, has started gaining prominence. It has spread from Kerala to other South India states, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and now, even Mumbai. I know many kids who are choosing to pursue Mohiniattam instead of Bharatanatyam."

"Treatises belonging to the Sangham period shed light on this. Perhaps the efforts to link Mohiniyattam to Thiruvathirakali and Nangiarkoothu were a sequel to this research."

"They [Attaprakaram of Nangiarkoothu] opened a treasure trove of mudras employed in this art form that could be traced to the ‘Hasthalakshanadeepika'."

"...could rejuvenate items like Easal, Poli, Kurathy and Chandanam of Mohiniyattam that had become extinct."

"Nirmala Paniker has done research on the Hastalakshana Deepika and by 1985, introduced a methodology for learning all the hand gestures in Mohiniattam using the Sanskrit slokas for the first time in the history of Mohiniattam."

"‘Mohiniyatta Seva,' suggesting its link to a temple ritual. “Unless this eye-catching dance form is liberated from the clutches of Carnatic classical music, its identity is at stake."

"Mohiniyattam has gone through a renaissance many times. It had a renaissance under Swati Tirunal, then again at Kalamandalam and now innovations are being brought in. Kerala has so many traditional and ritualistic art forms, when compared to other States. Kathakali and Koodiyattam, being male-dominated, naturally enjoyed more popularity and for a long while Mohiniyattam, sadly, was sidelined. Thanks to the structure laid down by dancer-scholars such as Kalyanikutty amma, Kalamandalam Satyabhama and the efforts of people like Bharati Sivaji and Kanak Rele, the face of Mohiniyattam has changed…now Mohiniyattam has a good stage, both nationally and abroad."

"In the oriental art tradition, the relation between the Guru and the Shishya is exemplary. Among traditional performing arts of Kerala, Mohiniyattam along with Kathakali fascinated Western artistes even in the early 20th century."

"Mohiniyattam is not a well known Indian dance form in France unlike Bharatanatyam. The Western audience does appreciate the moods of the Nayika in and the movements of Mohiniyattam...Since it is a cultivated art form I don’t expect to draw a crowd to watch Mohiniyattam. But there will always be rasikas and connoisseurs in the audience."

"The film on Mohiniyattam [he directed] primarily aims at experiencing the ‘dance’ rather than dissecting it intellectually. It juxtaposes the life of women on- and off-stage. The film is on Mohiniyattam and not on the individual styles of performance. Working with Adoor was an ingenious and insightful experience."

"...like the wavy movements of the arm in Mohiniattam. With eight girls synchronising, it looks fabulous.""

"The possibility of presenting the subtle facial expressions and detailed mudras for which Mohiniattam is famous? "I can't jump around like a frog to show my energy," she quips, emphasising, "The methodology will change, but you can't destroy the soul." The mukhaja abhinaya, conveying expression using the face and eyes, for which she is known, she reserves for limited spaces."