A contemporary kathak journey between life and death
What do you call a three year labour of love which brings kathak and contemporary dance together in a unique fusion? This experiment put together by renowned Canadian kathak exponent Joanna de Souza (senior disciple of the late Kathak legend Pt Chitresh Das who has been dancing kathak since 1987) and contemporary dancer Misty Wensel is having its world premiere at National Council for Performing Arts, Mumbai on Friday.
Being presented to mark India’s 67th Republic Day celebrations, by Chhandam Nritya Bharati and Canada Council for the Arts, the collaborative experiment called Bardo brings in the best of technique and form of both genres. Bardo is a Tibetan Buddhist concept exploring the state between death and rebirth.
“I met Misty 15 years ago when she took a few of my kathak classes and we sort of struck a rapport and began sharing ideas. We’ve since collaborated and even taught together at a dance retreat in Goa -Dancemala – which we had last weekend,” recounts Joanna, “We’ve been wanting to work together and were finally able to make it come true three years ago when Bardo began falling into place.”
Though Kathak has seeped into Misty’s contemporary work too, it wasn’t exactly easy …read more
