Kathak is the dance of vigour and much rigour. Add on to that the valour of Jaipur style and one comes across a very physically demanding and potent mixture. Sailing through et al, one witnessed Shambhauvi Shukla pirouetting her way through with little effort. The event at New Delhi’s Triveni Kala Sangam was organised by Nateshwar Kala Mandir on the occasion of Pt. Tirath Ram Azad’s 86th birth anniversary.
Dr. Shambhauvi Shukla has received training from Pt Prem Narayan of the Banaras Gharana and the doyen of Jaipur style of Kathak Pt. Rajendra Gangani and encompasses a certain rustic feel to her dance with all the elements of her Gharana vividly represented. On this particular evening, she commenced her recital with “Vedsar Shiv Stavah”, a Sanskrit text, written by Adi Shankracharya as an ode to the supreme deity Lord Shiva.
Essentially presented as an invocatory piece, the dancer rendered it as a stuti to Lord Shiva who is the adi-anant of this universe. Clad in tiger skin, smeared with ash, the husband of Goddess Parvati is addressed as the Mahadeva. The text goes on to describe him as the one who takes away the obstacles of all including Gods. He is the one from whom the world begins and into who even the vacuum collapses. Composed beautifully by U.P. SNA awardee Pt. Surendra Mohan Mishra of Banaras Gharana, the dance choreography was by the exponent herself.
Proceeding, Shambhauvi took the audience through the much treaded path of the traditional Kathak format replete with That, Uthan, Paran, Tore, Tukre and Tatkar, exploring myriad laya patterns while tracing and discovering the interrelationship between raas and Kathak. Laden with intricately nuanced traditional bandishes of the Jaipur Gharana, she presented another self- composed piece Panchamriti Tihai consisting of all the five jatis, making the piece special as one hardly gets to see jatis explored in the current gamut of Kathak presentations.
Adding on to the delight of the rasikas, the danseuse presented a rare traditional repertoire piece Talvar ki Gat which dripped of the valour and graceful anga, Jaipuri Kathak is famous for. The swift pirouettes and equally deft tatkar patterns by the dancer added on to the charm of the piece.
As a concluding piece to her well-rendered repertoire, Shambhauvi chose to delve into the Bhav Paksh or the abhinaya segment with a Surdas bhajan in raga Gavti. Composed by Brijesh Mishra, it carried with it a signature style of the Banarasi anga, both in terms of music and dance. With this fell curtains on yet another applause-worthy recital in the Capital.
Madhur Gupta
