e-mail: janakipatrik@gmail.com

Thoughts of an 82-year-old Kathak dancer

- Janaki Patrik
e-mail: janakipatrik@gmail.com

July 28, 2026

My hair has turned white and I've celebrated my 82nd birthday. It's now patently evident that I've been around for a while! So when young Kathak dancers and their parents discover that I've been a Kathak dancer... student, performer, guru, choreographer... for 60 plus years, they sometimes ask me for advice.

I suppose they expect me to tell them to practice tatkar every day for several hours, followed by an orderly regimen of bol parhant and repetitions of chakkurs, tukras, parans, paramelu, kavita torahs etcetera etcetera etcetera .......

But that's not the advice I give. I speak more about longevity in terms of sustaining our lives as creative artists within a supportive community, and of maintaining the "life of the mind" while sharing what we know and appreciating the gifts of others.

Here are a few of the basics I recommend for peaceful and creative longevity in Kathak or any other of the many great Indian and world dance and music forms.

Treat your fellow artists as respected colleagues, not competitors or adversaries. The world hungers for beauty. The need is infinite. There will never be enough of us to tell the stories of human goodness and to manifest the glory of the human body.

Open your eyes and minds. Attend performances and art exhibitions in your own and related and UNRELATED fields. Support your fellow artists by attending their performances.

Read - myth, poetry, history, reviews of performances and exhibitions, novels, biographies, the newspaper... Challenge your mind. Go outside your comfort zone.

Take your ear–buds out of your ears and stop scrolling on your cell phone. Look at and listen to the world.

Don't stop at technical proficiency. Explore ways to use the possibilities of Kathak's rich technical and mythic and literary treasury to reflect the world around you and your own inner landscape.

I call the art I have practiced for my entire adult life THE GREAT ART OF KATHAK. I say that it is like a sampurna raga – with an infinite scale of swaras and microtonal sruti ready to serve your imagination. It has the depth and breadth of a great WORLD art. Kathak includes different styles, which we call gharanas, each with its own highly developed techniques. Kathak has vast "pure dance" and poetic repertoires and long documented histories. And Kathak partners with the glorious Hindustani musical tradition.

But to take its rightful place as a recognized world art among peers in the international dance world, Kathak needs to continue to travel beyond the boundaries of a protected, communal, ethnic folk art, as it is even now sometimes defined. Tests of "authenticity" have no place in this great art. "Protecting" Kathak from outside, "polluting" influences has always been the weapon used by fearful, jealous, insecure little people to exclude "outsiders" and "usurpers", and to define a limited group of "insiders".

Open the doors and let the fresh air in. Add to the legacy and celebrate your good fortune to be part of the international Kathak family.

With all good wishes,
Janaki Patrik
New York City

Trained in both classical Kathak dance (Pt. Birju Maharaj, beginning 1967) and Merce Cunningham modern dance technique (1971 to 1978), Janaki Patrik has choreographed thirty full-evening productions and numerous shorter works exploring an eclectic range of poetry, mythic storytelling and music. She is the Artistic Director and Founder (1978) of The Kathak Ensemble & Friends / CARAVAN, NYC. A dedicated teacher, Janaki has trained dancers to perform an extensive repertoire of classical Kathak, as well as her new choreography. Teaching and performing in inner-city schools through Urban Gateways / Chicago and Young Audiences / New York for forty years, Janaki has embodied the power of dance and music to communicate the interconnections of all cultures.

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