Contemporary resonance

Dr Rekha Mehra believes dance can deliver social messages better

To many, kathak is just confined to the amalgamation of music and legwork but Dr Rekha Mehra has taken the classical dance form to a new trajectory. Her repertoire ranges from performing on issues like HIV/AIDS, Mumbai bomb blasts and Kargil martyrs. Her recent  performance was about environmental awareness and titled Dhaani Chunariya.

“Dance has now become a form of expressing thoughts and situations prevailing around us. I believe dance grabs attention easily among performance arts and is becoming a new tool for supporting and educating people about society and environment”, said Mehra.

She has also conducted workshops for underprivileged children and helped them showcase their hidden talent. “I have been working thoroughly to support the girl child by helping them enhance their creative side and in future even use it as a means of their livelihood,” she asserted. She shared how her last performance  on the theme of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao got the audience teary-eyed as it provided a friendly space to connect with a social issue and its consequences. “I believe dance is a great way to convey a message,” she said.

One of her youngest disciples,  Sonali Vishwakarma, plans to set up a school where she intends to uphold tradition by using it to interpret contemporary issues. “This resonance itself is an example of evolution in classical dance.”

The event was organised by Sahitya Kala Parishad over the weekend.

Photo: Pankaj Kumar