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Kathak
dance, belongs to Northern India, seems to have evolved
from the simple, devotional, mimetic recitation of
Kathakaras, who were story tellers and Rhapsodists
attached to temples in Braj region.
Nevertheless
Kathak
as obtaining today is far different from the art it must
have been in its formative years.
In its technique,
Kathak
gives equal importance to pure dance and to mime. And that
is so, because when Mongols became the rulers of India,
they took
Kathak
from the temple to the court; and , in the process, recast
its technique to suit their aesthetic propensities.
The pure dance aspect
is marked by intensive footwork and multiple gyrations of
the body, while the mime concerns itself mainly with
re-telling some incident in the life of Lord
Krishna.
Though not so much in vogue now, Kathak also includes
expressional dance done to the singing of love ditties.
Kathak, by its very nature, is essentially solo dance, and
its performers are both men and women.
Birju Maharaj, Sitara Devi, Damayanti Joshi and Roshan
Kumari were among the principal artists of Kathak in
1970s.
Leading centers of this art are Kathak Kendra, Delhi,
bhatkhande Sangeet Vidyapith and Lucknow.
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