Nagpur: The five-day
Kathak workshop, Kala Sadhana, concluded on Sunday evening with a short yet impressive performance by freshly minted dancers.
The workshop was organized by Nirzar Kala Sansthan in association with Sadhana Foundation and conducted by Nilakshi Saxena, a staff artiste of Kathak Kendra, Delhi, and a disciple of well-known Kathak dancer the late Sadhana Nafde who hailed from the city. Forty girls learnt the techniques of the classical dance in what was described by Saxena as a capsule course.
“The participants included girls who have been coming to the workshop every year and also those who are learning at other academies,” Saxena said. The students were taught in two batches, one comprising girls below ten years and the other for those eleven and above.
“The younger lot was taught the basics of Jaipur gharana like footwork, various spins, teen taal, toda, tihai and paran. The elder batch learnt taal Dhamar of 14 beats and the entire repertoire of Kathak,” Saxena said and added that she planned to conduct this workshop every year in June as a tribute to her late guru.
For 14-year-old-Aadya Pande, who had begun her training in Kathak when she was nine years old under the tutelage of Sadhana Nafde, this was like continuing the learning. “In between, I was in Indore where I attended Kathak classes and have returned to Nagpur just recently. This workshop was like a treasure box as in five days, I learnt many new techniques like palta, chakkar, tatkar and amad and many other finer points which will lend grace and style to my dancing,” she said.
Thirteen-year-old Samruddhi Buty, who has appeared for the madhyam pariksha of Kathak, this workshop was a route to make progress with her learning. “Taal Dhamar was not in my course, but I know it after attending this workshop. Whatever I have learnt in five days will help me grasp better when I return to my regular classes,” she said.
The workshop was organized by Nirzar Kala Sansthan