Madhya Pradesh Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang inaugurated kathakswati.com, a website dedicated to bring back the relevance and appeal of the kathak dance to the younger new age audience through its experiential way of learning. This website would serve to be a one stop destination for all those who are not only interested in learning the kathak dance form, but also those who would like to know about its history, its social importance, and the potential to strengthen its footprint on a global scale.
While launching the website, Minister Vishwas Sarang said, “I am extremely happy with this kind of an initiative. Through this website www.kathakswati.com enthusiasts can learn about the kathak dance form through engaging instructional videos online across the globe and reach out to a wider set of audience. This will go a long way in helping the students and common people to understand the intricacies of this kathak dance form.”
Kathak is commonly regarded as one of the seven classical dances of India and is the only one from North India. Kathak has been enriched greatly by the contributions of musicians, dancers, professional women artists, and court and landlord patronage.
She explained that Kathak is an elegant dance form of Northern India and revolves around the concept of story-telling related to Indian ancient and mythological culture. It is further characterised by intricate footwork, body movement and precise rhythmic patterns. Kathak is one of the 8th major forms of Indian classical dance. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the travelling birds in ancient Northern India known as kathakers or storytellers. The term Kathak is derived from the vedic Sanskrit word Katha which means story and kathakar which means the one who tells a story or to do with stories. Wandering Kathak communicated stories from the great epics and ancient mythology through dance, songs and music. Kathak dancers tell various stories through their hand moments and extensive food work, the body moments and flexibility but most importantly through their- facial expressions. It has both the influences of Hindu and Muslim Gharana and cultural elements in it. Kathak performances include Bhajan and Urdu ghazals because this is commonly used in both the codes as well as in temples too.Kathak is found in four distinct form called Gharana name after the cities where the Kathak dance tradition evolved they are Jaipur, Banaras,Lucknow,and Raigarh. Teaching has been a sacred and relaxing experience for me.By teaching, I learn and by learning, I get inspired to teach more. I would say the hardest part of my job is to learn and try to understand different students' perspectives. It is definitely hard to match kids’ exuberant energy.
