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Kathak in Poland August 29, 2011 In the mission to make Kathak global, Alaknanda Bose travelled to Poland to participate in the Cracovia Dance Festival for the third consecutive year from 2009. The appeal of the dance style is growing with the efforts and interest generated by Alaknanda who runs Alaknanda Institute for Performing Arts in Noida. The festival was held from 30th July to 7th August 2011 at Krakow, the cultural and historical city of Poland. More than 35 students from Poland, Russia, Germany and Siberia joined the Kathak dance workshop conducted by Alaknanda Bose culminating in a performance as the finale of the workshop.   Understanding the technique of Kathak is much easier to the perfected bodies of the European dancers but abhinaya (navarasa) or expressing by face was something the dancers had to learn in the workshop. The theme of the festival was ‘Folk influence on classical dance.’ The evening of the festival was dominated by lectures and seminars by masters from France, Italy, England, Polish and India. Alaknanda elaborated on the influence of Krishna Raas on Kathak dance. The finale was presented on the theme of Krishna Raas by the workshop participants for “Adhuram Madhuram” and thumri “Meri Suno Shyaam” at the Wawel Castle of Krakow. The beautiful stage illuminated the glow of all the global dances. Every year, Alaknanda encourages dance members from her troupe to participate in the festival. Garima Srivastava, Jeevak Bose, Nidhi Sharma and Radhika Gosain have been trained in English Court Dance and Polish Court Dance at the Cracovia Festival and have been awarded International Diploma. Jeevak was the only Indian to be trained in Italian Flag Juggling.

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