Icon of the Kathak World

On a three-week tour of the UK, Birju Maharajji has been hosted by Sujata Banerjee Dance Company and his forthcoming performance at the Purcell Room on Sunday 30th October, is jointly promoted with Milapfest.

 

I was fortunate to observe Mahajji’s class on Friday night at the Patidar Centre in Wembley, which has been running during the week, both for young ones and the intermediate to advanced students. A dozen students of various teachers seized the rare opportunity to be tutored by a living legend. 

 

There were wise words and priceless insights, which the participants can carry with them for the rest of their lives. A great artist comfortable in his skin, who has put aside years of intense performances, makes for a mellow teacher. By his side the fireball of energy, Saswati Sen, imposes order and discipline on the class so that there is a healthy balance of inspiration and perspiration. 

 

Watching Mahajji and listening to his commentary made me aware of how the naturalness of expression, underpinned with the structure of tala, makes a winning combination, and that is the base of kathak. The storytelling is not in abhinaya alone but also in the game-play of rhythmic composition. Maharajji demonstrates how observations from nature like the mother bird feeding babies inspires tukras and goes on to demonstrate the famous ‘telephone’ ring bol; on how the 4 count of the old phones differs from the 5 count electronic ring and ‘hello’ finally on getting through becomes the sum.

 

Between the demonstrations, come the gems of Maharajji’s lifelong pursuit of plumbing the depths of his subject. He lightly brushes aside the ‘clever-dickiness’ of 11 beat cycles saying who wants to concentrate on keeping taal to 11 beats after a hard day at the office? “teental is the sagar, the ocean; all rivers meet in it; why be so small-minded, when you have an entire ocean. Swim in teen taal, break it into 3s, 4s, 5s 7s..” he exhorts. Sujata Banerjee reminds us that Maharajji is the originator of ‘ginti’ ‘number’ tihai. It was his contribution in making his art form more accessible to the general public. He gives the example of his uncle Lichu Maharajji teaching an Anglo-Indian couple kathak in a crash-course’1,2,3, 4 mein saab naach sikha diya’ The simplicity that underlines the form can be clouded over by unnecessary ornamentation, I think he meant in this remark.

 

In terms of the flow and body lines, Maharajji demonstrates how movement is led by the chest and the supreme importance of ‘jatha hast, tatha drishti’. The hand leads, body, head and eyes follow. This seems obvious but how often the interests of speed, limbs are thrown side to side without the follow- through. Saswati di then shows how the arms travelling from the centre to over the right shoulder to the left bottom corner, must pass over the central body line connecting the two movements.

 

Maharajji then concludes the class urging students to carry into their dance the essence of themselves that they see reflected in the mirror everyday. ‘Love your limbs, love your body, that is dance’.