At nearly 70, Pandit Chitresh Das delivers an energy- and inspiration-filled residency

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Ali Akbar Khan, artist residency, Chhandika, George Ruckert, Gretchen Hayden, guru, kathak, Manju Sheth, Pandit Chitresh Das

Pandit Chitresh Das, guru to Gretchen Hayden, spent a week in Boston recently, running a series of classes and events for Chhandika’s students. Read all about it here in an India New England article with photos or scroll down for the text below. But first: check out this feature below! (Click on image for link to article.)

Chhandika Hosts Ten-Day Kathak Dance Residency with Pandit Chitresh Das

By Gretchen Hayden

(originally published in India New England on 4/17/14)

April 14th is the birthday anniversary of the late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan— guru of my husband, George Ruckert. We are remembering him fondly, respectfully and with immense gratitude—for his unique contributions to the world as a brilliant musician; for his untiring dedication as a teacher; for the role he played in establishing Hindustani music in the United States and globally; and for bringing a young Chitresh Das to develop a Kathak dance program at his Ali Akbar College of Music (San Rafael, California) in 1971.

This is the world I entered in 1972, as a young dance student, and where I eventually became a disciple of world-renowned Kathak master Pt. Chitresh Das. On this birthday remembrance in 2014, we reflect on the enormous, far-reaching contributions of these two giant artists over the decades since we first came into their presence. Khansahib may no longer be amongst us, but his music lives on and his teachings are carried forth by his senior disciples—some who began training with him as early as 1966. My Guruji is very much with us—here and globally! And he recently came to a Boston for a weeklong residency, teaching and diligently passing on the Kathak tradition to the next generation of students at the Chhandika Institute of Kathak.

April 5th—2014:
Entering through the back door, I am guided by the richly textured sounds of tabla mingled with singing, recitation, voiced instruction, footwork, and ringing ghungru drifitng through the halls and down the stairs. The sound grows louder as I reach the second floor, opening the door to behold a large room filled with pulsating energy. Swirling and sweating Chhandika students of all ages are being led by Pandit Das, as he alternates from playing driving rhythms on the tabla and dancing in front of the class—all the while reciting and/or speaking to those present. Family and guests are seated in chairs lining the surrounding walls. Exhilaration and intensity fill the air, as one is soon transported to a world all its own!

This was the culminating event of a ten-day artist-in-residence program sponsored by Chhandika Institute of Kathak Dance, as we hosted classes and events with Guruji throughout the week. Those who are familiar with the work of Pandit Das know he is one of the most dynamic and far-reaching artists to have emerged from modern India. A prolific artist, his performance, choreography and dynamic teachings have influenced the evolution of this worldwide art form. Based on his concept of “innovation within tradition,” he continually refines his artistry, while exploring the boundaries of Kathak dance and performance, creating compelling new works and techniques deeply rooted in the traditions of Kathak.

As a committed guru, he has trained many dancers who have gone on to establish their own careers in dance. A few disciples have taken it a step further, establishing kathak institutions in India, Los Angeles, Toronto, and here in Boston—Chhandika. With a group of dedicated students, I founded Chhandika Institute of Kathak Dance in 2002 with the aspiration to pass on the Kathak tradition and Guruji’s teachings in the Boston area. Through dance classes for all ages, community outreach and professional performances, we aim to share this rich Kathak legacy with the wider New England community.

We have hosted Guruji and the Chitresh Das Dance Company in the Boston area since 1995 and began presenting more formal residencies in 2002, when Chhandika became a non-profit organization.

These residencies present Chhandika students the opportunity to study directly with Pandit Das, while at the same time exposing their families and the greater Indian community to his unique approach of using Kathak as a vehicle for self-awareness and for understanding life’s deeper lessons. Indeed, his teachings go far beyond the steps taken on the dance floor. They tap directly into the vein of Indian culture, while incorporating Vedic philosophy, mathematics, history, and yoga.

At the core is a set of guiding principles that have been conveyed to his students ever since he began teaching classes to Westerners in 1971. Over the decades they have been crystallized into the eloquently stated Nine Principles of Chhandam. These span from attitude/ etiquette, systematic training and deep knowledge to devotional practice and selfless service.

Dr. Manju Sheth, a board certified physician at Lahey health, community leader and President of Indian Medical Association of New England 2013, reflected on the far-reaching, holistic nature of the teachings by sharing a personal story with those present at the master class on April 5th.

“As a young child, my sister-in-law Ushma studied Kathak with Pandit-ji’s Guruji, Pandit Ram Narayan Misra in Kolkata . Later in life, my sister-in-law suffered from Rheumatoid arthritis. I believe that the intense training required to learn Kathak teaches you value of discipline and hard work. I also believe that learning dance at an early age is good for your muscles and overall fitness for life,” said Dr. Sheth. “I have always noted that dancers have very strong leg muscles . I think this intense training in childhood and her passion for dancing into her adult life helped my sister-in-law recover faster after her knee replacement surgery for arthritis. In my book, optimum health is best achieved with multiple modalities including dance, yoga and meditation. Dance like other aerobic exercises is also known to release endorphins which helps in stress management, anxiety and depression.”

Dr. Sheth said that her daughter, Shaleen, benefitted immensely from her kathak classes with Gretchen as young child. “On a side note, it was an honor to watch Pandit Chitresh Das conduct a kathak class. It is amazing see how he blends in the traditions of an ancient dance and yet teaches kids in the language that they can identify with including talking about Facebook and other social media . I was extremely impressed. We are very blessed that Panditji makes a yearly trip to meet and teach his students in Boston. It was truly an unforgettable experience.”

“I am not a dance teacher, I am a dance preacher,” Guruji once stated many years ago. Those fortunate enough to experience his master class and Q/A on April 5th received an inspirational and memorable taste of the wisdom he imparts, as he brilliantly danced, played tabla, spoke, joked, coaxed, nudged, and infused each participant with the bright light he imparted to all present.

 

We Here Now: A kathak and sarod concert on March 2nd, featuring Gretchen Hayden and George Ruckert

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Anjali Nath, George Ruckert, Gretchen Hayden, kathak, kathak concert, sarod, sarod concert, Shefali Jain

SUNDAY MARCH 2nd at 4:00 PM. Mark your calendars and purchase tickets here.

Sita Haran Then and Now: a look at the mesmerizing CDDC productions of the 1970’s and 2013

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Ali Akbar Khan, Chitresh Das, Chitresh Das Dance Company, Debra Cash, Gretchen Hayden, kathak, kathak in Boston, Meenakshi Agrawal, Shankar Ghosh, Shefali Jain, Shelley Chhabra, Sita Haran, Zakir Hussain

By Gretchen Hayden
(Cross posted from the Chhandam Chitresh Das web site and newsletter.)

Sita Haran production by the all-female Chitresh Das Dance Company. Photo by Anil Mallya

The year was 1975. The Ali Akbar College was in its seventh year, and bustling with students (mostly “Westerners”) hungry for the Indian classical music, dance and taal being taught in classes given by such masters as Ali Akbar Khan, Chitresh Das, Shankar Ghosh, Zakir Hussain and myriad other guest teachers from India. I was only in my third year of study and in the intermediate kathak class at the time of the initial Sita Haran production.

Sita Haran was a full-length production, some three-plus hours long. High tech it was not; brilliant and very dramatic it was, with the superior artistry of Guruji (Pandit Das) and Khansahib (Ustad Ali Akbar Khan) breathing their magic and life into the choreography and music. With Guruji in the role of Ravana, it was awe-inspiring.

The production included live music, played by the vibrant AACM orchestra. The original score was composed by Khansahib and his son, Aashish Khan, while Guruji set the parameters of mood, rhythm, and the movement of each item. This music was then arranged and transcribed by George Ruckert for vocalists and the various instruments (sarod, sitar, cello, bass, guitar, flute, clarinet, sarangi, percussion). A small budget and limited resources dictated that we make do —and make it work with simple staging. Make-up was somewhat bare bones, compared to now. We in the original CDDC did not dye our hair or try to make our skin brown, so there were blondes, red-heads, and brunettes assuming the Indian characters without any advantage of looking Indian, for the most part.

The costumes were colorful and effective, but not as elaborate as those today. Rama and Lakshman wore top-knots surrounded with carved beads and light orange-saffron material tied around. As I look at the old program, the powerful image of Guruji as Ravana practically jumps off the page—with his piercing intensity and dramatic abhinaya. It was hand-typed and Xeroxed on simple paper, gold in color.

Fast-forward to the 2013 Boston Sita Haran production.

In spring 2012, encouraged by CDDC/Chhandam Executive Director, Celine Schein, I and a core group within Chhandika decided it would be beneficial to produce Sita Haran in Boston.     This resulted in a year-long endeavor, including a hugely successful internal fund-raising effort led by Shelley Chhabra and grant-writing/marketing campaigns spearheaded by Meenakshi Agrawal and Shefali Jain. Many more Chhandika volunteers were to come together during the course of the year and, all said and done, it was a wonderfully successful endeavor.

With the support of Chhandam, Chhandika was included in the funding roster of the New England Foundation for the Arts.  Chhandika also received recognition and funding from the Foundation for MetroWest and ArtsBoston.  And the Sita Haran production drew the attention of some of Boston’s most prominent dance writers, such as Debra Cash.

Those parents and others in the Indian community whom we spoke to in the days and weeks after the production were truly touched by and in awe of the production. Until they actually saw Sita Haran staged in this way, they could not have imagined such a masterful and soulful rendition through kathak. Many were moved to tears. It clearly had a strong and unforgettable impact on their minds and hearts.

It was also a moment for the upcoming young dancers in the Chhandika Youth Ensemble to shine on stage, performing a short version of the classic CDDC repertoire item, Rang Manch. They will never forget this opportunity and what an immense privilege it was to be on the same stage as the professional CDDC.

Last but not least, the highlight of Guruji coming all the way out here to grace the stage as our Guest of Honor added the crowning glory to this already unforgettable occasion. His presence always uplifts, inspires and is a huge boost to the whole Chhandika community.

Although the staging of the Sita Haran production as well as the level of technique now present in the CDDC dancers has changed dramatically from its beginnings in the 1970s, there is much that remains the same.

Guruji has an amazing gift for casting dancers in roles that seem perfect for each. He always has. In the process of developing the choreography, he brings out the most from each dancer and requires us all to delve deeply into ourselves in order to understand the character we are portraying and the deeper significance and lessons of the story being told.

One striking difference between then and now is the audience base. The 2013 Sita Haran production in Boston included an audience comprised mostly of people of Indian heritage.   And the production spoke deeply to their cultural roots. Relatively few non-Indians were in attendance. Those non-Indians I spoke to were also impressed and moved by the dramatic rendering. The 1970s and 80s Sita Haran production in California—as I recall—included audiences who were mostly non-Indian. At the very least, the mix was much more 70/30. This was the period when non-Indians were beginning to take in the culture from India, with great curiosity and a thirst for knowledge about it. And just as we were learning about these stories and characters that we did not grow up with, it was the same with much of the audience back then. Yet the openness of hearts and minds brought everyone together through the Indian classical arts.

Honoring a daughter’s first ghungroo ceremony

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ceremony, ghungroo, kathak

Photo by Darpan Dand

Vijaya Sundaram is a poet, a musician, teacher, a keen observer of the world, and the mother of one of Chhandika’s young students who has been studying with us for three years or so. Vijaya wrote the following poem after sitting in on her daughter’s ghungroo ceremony, at which the child received her ankle bells. She captures exquisitely the mood of the room, the essence of the ceremony, and the feelings that we experience upon receiving our own bells, or watching our loved ones do so.

And once you have read this poem, do take a moment to visit her site, vijayasundaram.com, for a treasure trove of beautiful writing and reflections.

Dancing Bells
(Honoring my Daughter’s First Ghungroo Ceremony)
©By Vijaya Sundaram
April 6th, 2013

A deity smiles

Benignly down

At the offerings

And the flowers.

Indian food and chai

Compete with incense

The air is quiet

Awaiting blessing.

Today, my girl learns

What tradition is

And she turns on the

Hinge of creation

She to her teacher,

She to her teacher,

Connected by bells

Strung tight together.

Wise words are spoken.

Her teacher evokes

A sense of sweet awe

Reaching for realness.

Hot tears sting my eyes

Mine too, he whispers,

As I dab at them

With my dupatta.

The ceremony

Glows through the morning

A quiet reverence

Saturates the air

Bells on their ankles

Tender and thrilling

Quell their pressing doubts

Render them quiet.

Then, they whirl and twist

They twirl and they stamp

And turn, her young friends

And she, dancers all.

The bells ring out clear

And bright, and tender

The blessings linger

In hands, feet and hearts.

Now, she is one with

Her dancing self and

She sees where the road

Leads.  She is unfazed.

She is persistent,

She is stubborn,

Reverential.

These will move her feet.

And her arms will shape

The air into song

Sculpting song into

A pattern for her days.

And her teacher’s words

Will string the small bells

Of each dance into

Bells that ring for life.

For the tradition

Comes through each of them

Through the student and

Into tomorrow.

Pandit Chitresh Das’ Sita Haran production on Top Ten list for Spring

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Debra Cash, Pandit Chitresh Das, Sita Haran

Local dance critic Debra Cash just issued her Top Ten list for this spring’s lineup of dance performances, and we were excited to see that Sita Haran, the dance production choreographed and directed by Pandit Chitresh Das and featuring his dance company, is on the list! Check out the article in the Phoenix, and don’t wait too long to buy your tickets!

Bali’s Court, Sita Haran production. Photo by Brooke Duthie.

 

Ten Years! On building a kathak community.

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community, George Ruckert, Gretchen Hayden, kathak, outreach, Pandit Chitresh Das, Retreat

by Anjali Mitter Duva

Chhandika began ten years ago. Gretchen Hayden had already been teaching in the area for a decade, but she had a vision of an organization that could carry her work into more settings and have a broader reach than she felt she could on her own. A handful of students worked with her to form this organization, and in November 2002, on a very windy day, I stepped out of the Attorney General’s office in Boston with our stamped letter of incorporation in hand.

Since then Chhandika has grown into a thriving kathak community, the only one of its kind in New England. We have held classes in Cambridge, Brookline, Burlington, Acton, Somerville, Andover and Shrewsbury. Hundreds of students have come to our classes and made their mark. This area has a transient population, and many have moved on, pulled to other areas by higher education, new jobs, new spouses, but many have remained, and many continue to come through our doors. All of them have benefited from this tradition of cultural and artistic integrity.

Every year, Chhandika has offered workshops, Intensive weekends and sometimes retreats to supplement our classes. Our affiliation with Pandit Chitresh Das has offered us the privileged opportunity to work closely with him, and Chhandika has hosted him in the Boston area many times. For the past three years now as well, Chhandika students and instructors have traveled to California to take part in the intense retreats with Chhandam students, thus strengthening our connection to this lineage.

Pandit Chitresh Das addressing Chhandika students in 2012. Photo by Darpan Dand.

We are delighted that we have been able to partner with other organizations to bring Pandit Das and his professional, high-caliber performances to New England: retrospectives of his work, lecture demonstrations at the Peabody Essex Museum and Sackler Museum, India Jazz Suites, and of course Sita Haran coming up in May 2013.

We have held annual shows in which increasing numbers of students participate every year, and increasing numbers of students and parents volunteer.

Kaliya’s Tale, Annual Show 2009. Photo by Praveen Sharma.

Some of these children and adult students have had the opportunity to perform on other stages as well, alongside Gretchen Hayden, or opening for Pandit Das. And of course there have been Gretchenji’s performances, those wonderful events at which we have seen deeper into the creativity, integrity and artistic excellence that she and her sarodist and composer husband George Ruckert, disciple of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, have nurtured for forty years.

Gretchen Hayden performing in Sangeet in 2007. Photo by Sri Thumati.

Shefali Jain performing with Gretchen Hayden, music composed and played (sarod) by George Ruckert. Sangeet, 2007. Photo by Sri Thumati.

One of the primary reasons to form a non-profit was to be able to offer outreach programs for children and adults in other settings. Over the years, Chhandika students have presented workshops and demonstrations at dozens and dozens of cultural festivals, public and private schools, museums and community centers, as well as performed at benefit events for other non-profit organizations. These are invaluable experiences for us as students, and a wonderful way to raise awareness of kathak in the region.

Outreach performance at Harvard University’s Arthur Sackler Museum in 2006. Photo by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard

Outreach performance at Summer in the City, Cambridge, MA in 2003. Photo by Kavita Pillay.

Being involved in the local community is a key component to Chhandika, and in so doing, through our programs and events, we have seen a special community of its own grow around Chhandika. Our students, parents, families and volunteers represent this community. There have been weddings. Babies have been born, and grown into Chhandika students. The line for canoe rides at our annual picnic keeps growing! Children have grown into teens, and teens into adults. Parents have become students themselves. Siblings have joined classes. Members of this community have cooked for our dinners, made backdrops for our shows, looked for studio space, pitched in with administrative work, restrung bells, photographed events, driven children to and from class, hosted visiting artists, staffed information tables, sold tickets, sewn costumes and much more.

It has been a decade of learning and sharing and growth, and we look forward to the next decade being even greater. Thank you to all our supporters for your continued generosity.

Four generations of the Chhandam lineage at Dancing Deer Farm

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abhinaya, Dancing Deer Farm, footwork, Gretchen Hayden, Pandit Chitresh Das, Retreat, slokas, Templeton

(Photos by Ritesh Das)

Eight Chhandika students, including two children and two teens, along with Gretchenji, attended a historic gathering of disciples, teachers, students and family members of Pandit Chitresh Das amid the vineyards and dry hills of Templeton, California at Dancing Deer Farm. Despite record heat of 110 degrees, spirits and emotions were high as members of the Chhandam family came in from various parts of California, the Northeast and Canada to spend a week living, breathing, dancing, sweating, thinking and discussing kathak.

Emily Mason, a student in California, gives us her account of the week here at the Chhandam blog.

The days began on the dance floor by 6:30 am, with two to three hours of intense footwork before breakfast, and went on from there. Everyone was pushed beyond what he or she thought was within reach, and everyone emerged exhausted but exhilarated. There were wonderful anecdotes by Pandit Das and his brother, tabla player and teacher Ritesh Das (who, together with Joanna de Souza, run tabla and kathak classes in Toronto), describing their experience growing up in a Calcutta home which was a center of musical and artistic excellence, where the likes of Ustad Vilayat Khan and Ustad Allah Rakha were regular visitors. There were viewings of videos from the early (1980s) days of the Chhandam Chitresh Das Dance Company and the current, dazzling Youth Company, along with rare footage of both Pandit Das and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, both in their early twenties and sporting long and wild hair, exchanging rapid-fire bols (compositions) of mind-boggling speed and intensity.

There were footwork sessions, and practice in abhinaya and story telling, and a Holi tarana. There were slokas and mantras and other songs, sung during the footwork, during the story telling, and at the beginning and end of each session. And there were laughs and communal meals and friendships formed, and a meteor shower on the next to last night, clearly visible against the dark immensity of the desert sky.

Receiving my dance bells

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dance bells, ghungroo, Gretchen Hayden

By Pallavi Murugkar

Photo by Darpan Dand

Dance equals happiness for me. When I think of happy times, I picture myself dancing. Due to various circumstances, I couldn’t be formally trained in dance. That didn’t really stop me from dancing when no one was looking or at parties where no one cared. But the urge to learn a classical dance form remained. So when I heard about Chhandika, two years ago, I wanted to join right then.

When I got to speak to Gretchen Hayden herself, I had no idea who I was talking to that day. Had I known, I probably would have been tongue-tied in awe and amazement. I joined Chhandika and went for the first class, held in Cambridge at the time. And my love for dance has grown leaps and bounds since then. From the first class itself, I would be staring at advanced students taking off and putting on their ghungroos, mesmerized by the sounds of the bells.

I had to wait for a year till people started talking about me getting them. The first time someone mentioned about me getting them was in summer 2011. But it was only in last couple of weeks that I actually started believing that I was getting them. So imagine my happiness when I was finally given the ghungroos at class two weeks ago. It felt like I was holding a pot of gold, diamonds. But they weren’t the ready or finished ones. I was shown how to string them and it reminded me of grandma making “gajra” from flowers. I went home and started stringing them the same day. It wasn’t an easy task. I was given 100 ghungroos for each leg. And by the time I was done stringing one, my fingers were sore. The skin had started peeling. But I didn’t care. The whole experience was amazing. It felt like I had earned them, that they were my prized possessions. I was itching to wear them and dance. But not till I officially received them.

That happened on Sunday. We were given instructions to bring flowers, fruits/sweets, a coin and incense sticks. The night before I kept the incense sticks in my bag, a fruit out on the counter and decided to get flowers in the morning. I was also asked to bring a bag for the ghungroos. I found a beautiful bag that Mom had given me 3 years ago. I had not found an occasion to use it. I guess it was meant to be my ghungroo bag. Of course in my hurry and excitement Sunday morning, I forgot the fruit on the counter and ran without taking flowers. We had to make pit stops to get fruits and borrow flowers (steal from the roadside…. Hey elements of nature, straight from nature).

Photo by Darpan Dand

Getting there I began helping arrange the hall. It looked so vibrant with all the students in colorful dresses, bells jangling, the stage decorated to make an altar of sorts. It all looked and felt auspicious. There was a pious feeling all around, just like Diwali at home. The individual ghungroos were wrapped in felt, tied with ribbons and placed on the stage. The ceremony included the teacher, Gretchenji, blessing the bells by touching them to her forehead, her mouth and her heart. She then gave them to me and I had to do the same. Holding them in my hands and looking in her eyes, I felt like she was placing a responsibility in my hands, she was giving me a message, a message from the Divine power. It all felt very right. I was overwhelmed with emotions.

Before tears could run down, it was time to wear them and dance. Tying the ghungroos took some skill and lot of help from experienced students. But once on, I couldn’t stop moving my feet. I felt like a kid given a new toy. For the child, that toy is the world. It felt like the world. Dancing with them was amazing. They were heavy, but I didn’t care. I was on top of the world, oblivious to everything. I had earned my ghungroos and they were mine! An extension of me!

Photo by Darpan Dand

Community kathak performances

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Chhandika Youth Ensemble, community performances, George Ruckert, Gretchen Hayden, Hamsadhwani, Hindu Heritage Day, Kaliya Daman, kathak, New York Dance Festival, New York Dance Parade

May seems to be shaping up to be Community Performance month. Coming up on May 11th, Chhandika will be delighted to participate in the International Night festivities at the Peirce Elementary School in Arlington, MA. Five young kathakas ages 7 to 8 will perform the story of Kaliya Daman–young Krishna battling the water serpent Kaliya–with choreography by Pandit Chitresh Das. Following them will be three members of the Chhandika Youth Ensemble performing a version of the Hamsadhwani Tarana, composed by George Ruckert and choreographed by Gretchen Hayden.

On May 19th, two performances will be taking place, one in Marlboro, MA, and one in New York City. May 19th is Hindu Heritage Day in Massachusetts, and members of Chhandika’s Youth Ensemble will perform a cultural event put on by the World Hindu Council of America.

 

 

 

At the same time, dancers Ashyka Dave and Dien Magno, students of Pandit Chitresh Das, as well as Shefali Jain, a student of Gretchen Hayden, will be dancing at the New York Dance Parade and Festival at Tompkins Square Park. This is a massive, dazzling and uplifting event, free to the public. Anyone in NYC is urged to go catch some beats that day!

No kathak in this short clip, but what a celebration of dance!

Click here to share and invite people to the kathak segment.

Video of a kathak yoga segment from “Kathaka: An Inside Story”

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Annual Show, chakkars, Chhandika, harmonium, Kathak Yoga, kathaka, Sareena Avadhany, Shefali Jain, tarana

Chhandika’s 2012 Annual Student Show, “Kathaka: An Inside Story” was a great success, with over 75 students performing at all levels, eager to demonstrate bols, footwork, storytelling, spins, and taranas. And here is a mesmerizing clip of Shefali Jain and Sareena Avadhany performing a piece in “kathak yoga” style, i.e. singing lahera, playing harmonium and dancing complex rhythms with lightning fast footwork… all at once. Put aside a few minutes: you’ll want to watch this a few times.