Get ready for Sufi Kathak!

By Divya Unny - Daily News and Analysis - Mumbai, India

Monday, April 2, 2007

Manjari Chaturvedi talks on blending the two art forms in a ‘dance of ecstasy’, her show to be held in Mumbai on April 5 at NCPA

When the mystic tunes of Sufi music percolates into traditional Kathak dance moves, it gives birth to what she calls ‘dance of ecstasy’. It was eleven years ago dancer Manjari Chaturvedi combined 600-year-old poetic compositions with the Indian art form and Sufi Kathak has now become one of the most successful experiments with art.

“Blending Sufi music and Kathak produced dance of a formless identity, because Sufism is a way to reach God almighty who is formless himself,” explains Manjari.

A professional Kathak performer from the Lucknow gharana, Manjari however adds that she had to start from scratch to improvise on Sufi Kathak which was a completely new concept for many. “From finding poems of various Sufi maestros to the right music to incorporating it rightly into Kathak dance, it was intimidating but quite a challenge for me,” she says.

Though she was not spared of the initial scepticism of straying away from the roots of traditional Kathak, it was audiences who have accepted the dance form across the globe.

“Many thought I was too young to understand the concept of Sufism. The history of Kathak has been re-written; even connoisseurs of the dance form have started accepting it gradually.”

Gaining acclaim from audiences in Lucknow and Delhi, ask her what she expects out of Mumbai audiences and she sums up, “I have had a huge young audience drawing various new perceptions to my performances, I am sure Mumbai will be as responsive,” she says.