“From our heartbeat to the birds flocking together as they scale the skies, there is rhythm and regularity in tempo that is intrinsic to life. This is what I am trying to mirror through my dance,” said Kathak exponent Pt. Birju Maharaj, the first recipient of Padma Vibhushan for Kathak in 1984.
While rhythm forms the fulcrum in the Banaras and Jaipur gharana of Kathak, “The stylistic stamping in our Lucknow Kalka-Bindadingharana brings in a balance of rhythm, ang and abhinaya holistically,” says the maestro recalling his father, who served as the court dancer in Raigarh princely State. “It also helped me have newer formatted attempts in Kathak as ‘Birds in a flock’ or even ‘Romeo and Juliet’! We have to use tradition innovatively, and my challenging choreography for fusing Kathak in songs in ‘Devdas’ and ‘Shatranj Ke Khilari’ was exactly an attempt in this,” he said.
The Kathak maestro is in the city to receive the National Achievement Award on Sunday. The award has been instituted by the Shrishti Centre of Performing Arts.
“The presentation will be followed by a Kathak performance by Pt. Birju Maharaj, his senior disciple Shashwati Sen and group from Kalashrama, New Delhi,” said A.V. Satyanarayana of the centre.
“I visited several parts of Karnataka for my performances nearly five decades ago, thanks to the association with Maya Rao, who spearheaded the Kathak movement with her signature choreography that brought a new-fangled interweave to the form,” said 77-year-old, Pt. Maharaj at a conference, along with Ms. Sen.
