I have been blessed to have Kumudini Lakhiaji and Pandit Birju Maharaj as my gurus; but then, for me, the greatest teacher is life itself, she said. (Photo: PR handout)A leading Kathak dancer and choreographer, Aditi Mangaldas is a name to reckon with in the realm of Indian classical dance forms. A winner of the National Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2013), the artiste has trained under well-known kathak gurus — Shrimati Kumudini Lakhia and Pandit Birju Maharaj — who not only taught her the dance form but also about her emotions and the human body. While she feels blessed to have been trained under such leading exponents, Aditi Mangaldas says life has been her biggest teacher to date.
In an exclusive interaction with indianexpress.com, the founder of the Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company – The Drishtikon Dance Foundation, talks about her journey, her art, her biggest learnings, the evolution of kathak, the charm of classical dance forms, and her upcoming performance. Read the edited excerpts below:
How and when did your love affair with kathak begin?
My love affair with kathak started without me really knowing it. I come from a family of academicians and industrialists. But I had a very liberal upbringing; liberal in the sense that they encouraged debate and questioning; nothing was carved in stone. When I was four years old, I would get onto a table and start dancing or at least try to share my joy at seeing my family, and then my family put me in music, dance, fine arts, and even in the community science center. But one by one, everything fell off and dance became my calling. I can’t tell you when the love affair started, because dance has been my partner since the very beginning.
You have trained under gurus like Kumudini Lakhiaji and Pandit Birju Maharaj. How would you say they helped shape your career?
I have been extremely lucky to have learned under these great legends; but, you know, it’s very difficult to describe the experience. However, if I have to say it in two sentences, I would say that with my first guru Srimati Kumudini, I learned about the connection of the human body to breath, to music, to the stage, and to the environment around you — of horizontal explorations, you come out of yourself, widen the circle and reach out across the world. On the other hand, Maharajji, my guru later, was the fount of kathak. What I learned from him was the center to the rest of my body. It didn’t matter where or how I was, but how my breath and emotions reached every little pore and different part of my body. So, it was a vertical exploration — going deeper and deeper into the form and my emotion. I have been blessed to have these two as my gurus; but then, for me, the greatest teacher is life itself.
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What are your fondest memories of training with Pandit Birju Maharaj? How would you describe him as a teacher?
I think a teacher is a smaller word as it’s not just the form you learn, but the whole way you approach that form. It’s not only the movement of the body, but the movement of the mind, and the heart; and especially with Maharajji, his power of observation was just incredible. If there was a leaf falling, there will be a dance movement made and you can only do that if you are alive to the breath of the now. So, these are the major things about Maharajji, his power of observation, and when you live like that — in the now — you’re able to impart that understanding to your student in a more profound way.
How would you describe the evolution of the classical dance form — it is something you had expected/anticipated when you had started out?
I consider my work in two streams. One is the classical kathak stream, and one is what I call my contemporary dance, based on the Catholic stream. Both my gurus and my family encouraged evolution, to look into the form and finding different avenues within it. So, for me, this great form that I have inherited, which has come down 1,000s of years, is like a river that is constantly rejuvenating itself. So every time you step into the water, it’s new. That is how I look at my classical work. In my contemporary work, however, there was a point when I wanted to express something using the broader parameters of kathak I knew; so, I had to find the means and the movement vocabulary to be able to share it.
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Tell us about your session at TEDxGatewaySalon: Breaking Barriers 2022, and the role you have played in inspiring women to pursue their passion over the years.
I’ve been a great follower of TED and TEDx. So, it was a great honor to be invited for this very special session. You know, as artistes, at times, we must have the courage to ask so many uncomfortable questions, and to absorb and share uncomfortable or taboo thoughts which may not be part of our traditional repertoire. Like, I will be soon doing a solo performance — called ‘Forbidden’ — which is based on the question ‘why the world fears female sexual desire?’. History confirms this, that from time immemorial, in conservative and liberal societies, women’s sexual desire is constantly sanctioned, judged, controlled, and eventually punished. I have taken an extract from this, and from my other product called ‘Within’, and looked at each of us with respect to the brutality and humanity within us. It’s a very short, seven-eight minute piece, in which I’ll be dancing and also speaking for two minutes.
In all these years, have you ever felt the need for the revival of kathak/any classical dance form, following the success of contemporary dances?
Dance is a movement of your heart, mind, and body and it can be in multiple various forms. It can be contemporary, classical, traditional, ritualistic, pop, or Bollywood; and I don’t think we need to vie for that. There is a lot of space, and it doesn’t matter what genre it is. Dance is an experience of the moment, and therefore it must breathe the air of the moment.
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In a similar vein, do you feel Bollywood has, to some extent, led to the commercialisation of traditional dance forms?
You know, Bollywood is an incredible medium that reaches a vast number of people. Yes, it also influences an incredible amount of people, and therefore they have a responsibility for what they show. Having said that, it’s their genre, something they have created. If we keep it at that and don’t classify it, but consider it as a mélange of many inspirations that work beautifully, then it’s fine. We also have to understand, as classical or contemporary artistes, that the world is always expanding. We have to understand what our genre is.
What about classical dance forms. Do you think they still attract youngsters?
Dance forms came into being with a set of stories. But as the river progressed, along its journey, the stories changed. As practitioners of classical dance forms, we have to be aware that stories have changed, and we need to know the pulse of contemporary work. Certain emotions are universal but there is so much more to life right now. If you are averse to that, then you will never connect with the younger people. You need to make your work so profound, so internalised, and yet so relevant today, that it reaches the younger generations and draws them to this great reservoir of classical traditions that we have.
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How has Kathak helped you break barriers over the years? What do you credit it the most for?
You know, a dance form is like a living thing that is constantly growing. It’s influenced my life in multiple different ways — my relationships, how I look at life. Also, my relationships have influenced my dance, and how I see the world has influenced my dance. There are two forms of creativity. One is human-made, and one is nature-made, and both of them influence the dance. In turn, the dance of kathak influences my life and the way I go forward.
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