Kathak: Indian Classical Dance

            A musical phrase is continuously repeated in a given time scale. A refrain, or lehra, became popular in the Mughal Courts. It comes in handy since it “provides the dancer and the percussionist with an ever-present and constant time measure” (India’s Kathak Dance Past, Present, Future). The percussionist sets the tal, or rhythm, by playing a certain number of beats in measure. Tal is played in varying layas, or speeds depending on the portrayal of the story or the intended mood of the music. Generally, there are three different speeds: “vilambith (slow), madhya (medium) and druth (fast)…known as tha (slow), doon (twice the speed of tha), and chaugun (four times the speed of tha)”. Occasionally, athgun, eight times the speed of tha, is used. As the intricate footwork and tal “are closely related and interwoven”, “the skill of the dancer and percussionist is judged by the accuracy with which, after complicated variations, they arrive simultaneously at the sum”, where the sum, a Sanskrit word, means the first beat of the measure. The variations occur over several bars and eventually reaches a climax with first of a measure instead of the last beat of the measure. The sum can be distinctly heard as it is “always pointed with a sense of achievement and satisfaction” India’s Kathak Dance Past, Present, Future).