indian dance

Indian Dance: Antara Bhardwaj- Kathak styles Kathak is the one of eight forms of Indian classical dances perform by men and women, originated from northern indian, known as kathakars or storytellers. The styles of dance have its unique character from the rhythmic footwork with rhythms that he or she stomps out barefoot on the floor, accented with many bells worn around the ankles ( and from seeing the guest artist I can say there were more than 100 bells around her ankles making lots of noise to go with the beats of the drum), spectacular spins, and also every dance piece has a story behind it. A traditional kathak performance features a solo dancer on a stage, surrounded on all sides by the audience. The repertoire includes amad ,the dramatic entrance of the dancer on stage. Male dancers perform in Persian costume of wide skirts and round caps, while female dancers wear a traditional Indian garment called a sari. Back in the day women are the one who preserved this traditional dance more than the men. Kathak are typically performs by one dancer surrounded by a group of musicians. The solo dancer performs the parts of all the characters in the story. For example the guest artist were going back and forth rapidly from one of her dance piece between two characters. She did it without changing her positions on stage, changes in gestures and facial expressions signal instantly which character they take on at that moment. Before the guest artist started her dance so did a pronom giving thanks to all five elements or also known as the god, space, wind, fire, water and earth. Dance is on the earth, the eyes wherever the eyes are the mind, where the mind there are feelings. The way Antara gave thank to the god were a little different from what we normally did in class, with more steps and she also added some singing and harmony into the rituals. Based on what Antara told us, kathak is a very intimate dance where it is a three ways conversation,