Ahead of the International Dance Day on April 29, a city based trained kathak dancer and an avid performer SP Swati said “In the present days, it has become a trend to celebrate each and every days like Friendship day, Mother’s day, Father’s day earth day etc so here we go with the trend of World Dance Day.
Dance in India comes in different genres and means different things to different people.
World Dance day is celebrated worldwide on April 29, the birthday of “Jean Georges Noverre “creators of modern ballet. It was initiated in 1982, to promote and to make people aware of the value of dance in all its forms across the world and to promote their work on broader scale. Observed every year on April 29, was established in 1982 by UNESCO’s International Dance Council and aims at attracting attention to the art of dance. It is celebrated by millions of dancers around the Globe.
As Indian art forms there are eight main forms and “Kathak” is one of them which has its own grace and sophisticated postures and rich in expressions. Basically it has gharanas which is classified as: Lucknow , Raigarh, Banaras and Jaipur . Captivated by Kathak
Kathak in itself is a word of expression denotes itself katha kar or the one who speaks or recites the story.
Calling Kathak a pure form of dance that made a person active and focused, Pt. Birju Maharaj said that being focused in life should be the main motto. “I still remember the words said by Pt. Birju Maharaj said that you can learn anything from anyone, even a fan can teach you to be in rhythm or even a kid can teach you by his weeping, laughter or anger. Follow your passion and keep dancing with your body mind and soul to spread positive energy and make the fullest of every bit.”
SP Swati said, “For a dancer like me every day is a dance day, which is to be worshiped, nurtured and celebrated. I believe that this art form (Kathak) is not the only medium for the entertainment of people , this is much more beyond that.”
“Dance is simply like when you do meditate your body get relaxed the same way your mind and soul needs relaxation and that relaxation you get from dance.Positive energy starts flowing into your body so your aura gets positive and joy”. The theme selected for the 2019 observance is Dance and Spirituality.
While spirituality uniformly informs and inspires Indian dance, our culture of dance goes beyond such simple templates. World Dance Day gives us an opportunity to retrospect, celebrate, have a dialogue, bring together performers across generations and bring the community of dancers together, which does not happen.
She further said, “Due to westernization the main soul of classical form is getting vanished day by day, I do personally believe transformation and updation is key to modern era but to hold on the essence of the main form which directly connects you to the god and spirituality needs to be more in their original form only.”
“I personally look up for being an international artist with new innovations without taking the main essence of kathak so that i can spread and teach whatever I have learned can be beneficial for next generations to retain their interest for kathak . It would be great if I can make something which is like complete package for them so that they can get connected to god , meditate and learn about the spiritual knowledge about culture,” she added.
“But today, I feel vindicated, world dance day is widely accepted by the dance community, organizations and most importantly, by the audiences,” she said.