Kathak: Indian Classical Dance
Since nomadic times, professional story-tellers recited the Indian epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. The roles of the kathakaars, now known as kathaks, or the story-tellers, were hereditary (inSync). These kathaks were considered a caste, who wandered from one village to another, reciting stories from sacred literature as well as folklore. It came from the tradition of story-telling done by the Aryan civilization of northern India around 2000 BC (Shamaa Dance Co). During this time, Vaishnavism spread. Vaishnavism is the worship of Lord Vishnu, the Preserver. There was a lot of worship of the god Krishna as well, who is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, and many Radha-Krishna stories were told through dance. Some popular story performances were Krishna’s time in the holy land of Vrindavan and Krishna-Leela, which are stories of his childhood. This time period lasted from 13th to the 16th century AD and was known as the Bakthi Era, as Bakthi means devotion, in this case, referring the people’s devotion to their gods (Shamaa Dance Co). Slowly, the dance began moving away from being very spiritual and began forming into a more folk style.
In the 16th century, Kathak reached the Mughal courts. Here it began to shape into the dance many know. At the court, it encountered several different forms of dance and music, and dancers from Persia. Kathak transformed from a religious dance to a form of court entertainment due to the Mughal court environment (India’s Kathak Dance in Historical Perspective). At this time, it took the form of Persian dances instead of Indian classical dances. The focus shifted to footwork unlinke Bharatanatyam where the “emphasis [is] on hasta mudras or hand formations” (Tarang). The leg work changed from a dance with lots of bent knee to a dance with straight legs. This straight-legged position gave way to new, intricate footwork that included percussion rhythms. To highlight this footwork and to mark the bol, or the beat, with a sound that “seem[s] clear and sweet to the ear—a demand that [is met] in dance by means of ankle-bells (ghungroos), which every Kathak uses throughout the recital” (Swinging Syllables Aesthetics of Kathak Dance). A female dancer usually wears ghungroos with “101 [bells] and men 151 on each ankle”. The ghungroos are handled delicately and looked after as they are sacred to the dance. Along with the intricate leg work, chakkars, or turns, were added, showing a technical aspect to the dance. For women, adã and nazãkat, meaning grace and delicacy, became vital to portray Kathak. During the Mughal Empire, the costume was changed from lehenga and choli, which is an ankle-length skirt with a blouse and scarf, to a pishwaz, which is a long fancy tunic type top that surpasses the knee and can sometimes go down to the ankles, paired with churidar, which is legging type pants (Shamaa Dance Co).
From the Mughal Era, the Kathak dance style continued into the British Raj Era in the early 19th century where it was again transformed. Different Gharanas, otherwise known as “schools” of Kathak formed by the end of the Muchal period. “[The Lucknow Gharana] is characterized by grace or nazakat, emoting or abhinaya and elegance and intricacies of movement and footwork” (inSync Kathak). The Jaipur Gharana has “more emphasis on ‘Nritta’ or the technical aspect of Kathak”.