The students of Bhopal witnessed a mesmerising Kathak performance at Radha Krishna Auditorium, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) here on Thursday. A noted Kathak dancer from China Zhang Xiao Qing gave a splendid performance before the students.
The programme Nritya Sarita was organized by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Bhopal. Notably, she came to India for the fourth International Music and Dance Festival.
Besides, Zhang is a refined Kathak dancer who, with performing soothing and mild mudras and forms of Kathak leaves a striking impression over the audiences. She has been learning this art of dance since her childhood in India. Zhnag with her rhythmic understanding and ability to extemporize with speedy rhythms and preserving pure Kathak classical style are some of her qualities.
The audiences were captivated towards her presentation when she performed matching the footwork with harmonium and Tabla live on stage. She began her performance with Guru Vandana. She showcased her devotion towards her Gurus and portrayed the Guru Shishya Parampara wonderfully.
She then performed pure Kathak dance on a Bhajan. She devoted this style to Maa Saraswati. The programme was further followed by the Thumri. In this section she performed mesmeringly well as she focused on the life of Shyam and portrayed the romantic saga of Shyam in a unique way. She wrapped up her performance with Tarana in which she performed fast turns (chakkars) leaving the audiences enthralled.
later she interacted with the students at MANIT and gave information about Kathak, and the Indian Classical music to the students. She explained that the first beat of taal is called ‘sam’, the various concepts and themes chosen for kathak are mostly devotional that includes various bhavs, rasas, and abstract.
The students enjoyed the show. This event was witnessed by MANIT students and the faculty members as well. SS latwal, ICCR New Delhi said, “We invite the foreign artists to India with an aim of culture exchange and also to promote the cultural diplomacy among the youngsters. This is the best way of one-to-one interaction between the foreign and Indian culture.”