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 Swaraah, a swar yatra - Kasturika Mishra e-mail: kasturikafeministpoetry@gmail.com December 19, 2023 Kathak is developing a contemporary voice which was hitherto an unknown realm. The dancers in Rachana Yadav Kathak Studio namely Siddhant Purohit, Hitesh Gangani, Sujata Bhaskar Gawde, Aditi Bharadwaj, Aastha Sijaria and Deepannita Sarkar, the young, energetic and rooted dancers that they are, pressed this point home during the presentation of Swaraah on December 8, at Stein auditorium, New Delhi. The hard core taleem and rigorous practice of the team set off on exploring the idea of life and its explicit patterns. Rachana deftly created the aadi (aad) of life through origin of naad svara by praying to find the centre of our self. Except for the wooden expression that could have been avoided and the nervousness cleverly clouded with an extempore movement, Rachana Yadav choreography was flawless in guiding the young dancers to using the various sides of the stage to their advantage. That also allowed Govind Singh Yadav to play with the lights on concentrated spots. "Dha kita taka dhin" was repeated on various loops of Indian classical music and T5 guitar tune refrains magically created by Susmit Sen and Samiullah Khan.  Like the voices on the recorded pieces, the dancers also germinated into bloomed beings. The masterstroke was the padhant in ati vilambit teentaal by Mahaveer Gangani. It swelled up the performance to a euphoric decibel that shadowed the dancers for a while. An ahirbhairav interlude and later a poem by Ila kumar on the words "Relam pela" meaning the roller coaster whirlpool of life, the dancers appeared exhilarated, defeated, confused and trying to adjust to each other in daily life interaction. These feelings however never left the primary edifice of traditional Kathak and stuck to teentaal and its layakari. The focused writing on the wall was by Govind Singh Yadav who used lights of various colors created deftly in various corners of the amphitheatrical space. The next composition was on "Prem, Swet, Shyam and Preet," the multiple facets of how love controls your emotions. Rachana Yadav gyrated through the moods of love taking the seasons as crutches to walk over the audience. In raag Kirwani, Poorvi, Megh, Samiullah Khan weaved the magic of raindrops falling on earth, the moon hiding under the veil of the clouds, wetting the wild dreams in a rain soaked grey sky. Perhaps Rachana Yadav could have put more soul in abhinaya on the line "chand to door kahin door ja chuka" where moon is a co-pilot in lone moments. The moods of Patjhad (autumn) by Thakur Prasad Singh was beautifully projected into a shadow on a white screen and palms moved as falling leaves on it. A photographic collage of nature could have accentuated the mood of the projection. Lilting notes by Susmit Sen added to the magic under the rain fed skies in raag Megh while the mother lovingly put her child to sleep undisturbed. An endearing finale reached a crescendo by six dancers joining Rachana in the concluding raag Kalavati under the spell of strong drums by Varun Gupta. At times the recorded music overshadowed the actual Kathak element but that's a natural outcome when experimental productions are put to stage.  @Kasturika Mishra is a poet, writer, and dance critic. |
