On a visit to my hometown, I had the chance to regroup with this lovely bunch of people of beej Foundation. We performed a Tarana in Ektaal. This performance was a part of the In Sync Festival that celebrates the syncretic, secular practice of Kathak dance specifically the Ganga-Jamni tehzeeb of Kathak dance. Dancing with Vaishnavi, Abhay and Samhita of beej. Choreography by Sanjukta Wagh.

Thaat - a specially choreographed piece by guru Rupali Desai to celebrate 23 years of Sanskruti Nritya Kala Mandir.

First performed in 2018, Saavan is an original composition of Sanjukta Wagh. Set to Raag Megh Malhar and Taal Roopak (7 beats), this choreography begins with exploring five different elements that represent this season, the dark rain clouds, the lightning, the lush green earth, the raindrops, and the wondrous peacock. Lamchhad parans interspersed with tatkars bring the spirit of the monsoons to life in sound and dance.

Dancers: Samhita Radhakrishnan, Vaishnavi Panyam, Samyukta Rajan, Abhay Tole Trivedi, and Shivani Jatar (dark blue). 

My most experimental piece till date. My Dance Starts Here is like a deconstruction of a conventional Kathak performance, a non-Kathak Kathak performance. 

Supported by Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Fernanda Prata and the Leeds Playhouse.

There’s kathak, and then there’s my practice of Kathak. One where I challenge inherited conventions of performance. Instead, I create shapes in space and move to embody bols (sounds).

Who is your Shyam? Is it a man? Is it a woman? Does it matter? Finding our responses to these questions and more in this piece called The Thumri Experiment. Joined by Zoobin and Penny (L-R in black) who encounter Thumri and Kathak for the first time in the process.

A devised collaborative performance that explores ‘otherness’ specifically through the lens of gender and identity.

Choreographed by Shivani Jatar.

Performed by Amber Zamora, Clara Mauro, and Imogen McBeath.