Certain artistes aim beyond the art for art’s sake. Divya Goswami Dikshit belongs to this category of artistes who look upon their medium as means to a higher end. And to her credit it must be admitted that she is able to achieve her objective through Kathak dance — an art form which is technique-oriented though it originated as an artistic tool to propagate bhakti (devotion). Using both the ancient and medieval mode of Kathak, the dancer related to the sublime in her own unique manner drawing her audience along with her in her journey.
Yes, it was an artistic voyage for all of us sitting there in the India International Centre auditorium as Divya softly led us through the Shiv Aradhana (invocation) in vilambit set to Desh. Attired in pristine white and gold costume, she moved swaying with her serpent mudra depicting a hooded cobra that adorns Lord Shiva — the cosmic dancer, creator, preserver and destroyer — all in one! Her abhinaya literally spelt out the attributes and potency of the omnipotent God in a myriad ways. The movements and mime was sedate and sublime delving into the depths of emotion. The viewers went along soaked in the expressive power of the Lord she so sensitively portrayed. The varied abhinaya for “Trinayana” (three-eyed) was something to write home about. Then steadily the tempo swelled to the second speed when her feet began to translate what earlier her gestures and countenance expressed.
Seamless musical recital
The second phase was the footwork delineation in the taal Dhamar, a la Drupad musical style, this being the Lucknow gharana to which Divya belongs. Her excellent sense of rhythm was praiseworthy. Unlike many others of her age, it was not just the footwork show to various complex beats but also a corresponding sway in body kinetics which enhanced the pure dance bestowing it with liveliness. Her wrist and palm movement to rhythm without the hand moving automatically was something of creditable artistry that was very impressive. The “veera rasa” which this particular piece was supposed to evoke being its innate nature, was shown through mere footwork, within the precincts of this taal where the 14 matras are in the 5-2-3-4 symmetry with the one, six and eleven being done to tali (clap) and the beat eight is indicated by the khali (wave of the hand). The technical brilliance of her dance (Anagat) precluding the bandish (Misrachapu). She played out her chakkars to single mnemonic to precision like the needles of a clock. The entire dance was like a seamless music recital. The Ashtapadi “Dheera Sameere...” got its best interpretation in Kathak in Divya’s hands. The state of mind of both the nayika (Radha) and nayaka (Krishna) was brought out with sensitivity and clarity — a subdued shringara that did not overstep the fine line that divides the erotic from the vulgar. Though the dancer did emote to the meaning of the line “Rati Sukha Saare...Prathama Samagama...” a little later, her initial flute-wielding gestures and dance as this line of the song was flowing through was a little confusing!
Finally somewhere after the third refrain she did sensitively portray the sensuousness of the lines, but then it somehow looked misplaced in the scheme of things. The detailing of Krishna’s mesmerising flute notes as flowing through the winds into the ears of Radhika was very picturesque as was the decking of a bed of fragrant flowers — testimonials to the artiste’s descriptive powers through dance alone. Despite a feeble pandhant by Neha Chauhan, Govind Chakraborty on tabla, Kiran Kumar on flute, Anil Kumar on sarangi and Khushal Sharma lending the vocal support made for a compelling orchestra on stage.
