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Tag Archives: Ali Akbar Khan

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

19 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by chhandika in Chhandika events, News, Pandit Chitresh Das

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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.)

Dadaji DNA 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.

 

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

01 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by chhandika in Chhandam Chitresh Das Dance Company, Chhandika events, Pandit Chitresh Das

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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

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.

Of revolution and colonies, pioneers and artists, America and India

08 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by chhandika in For the love of kathak, Music

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Ali Akbar Khan, Calcutta, Chitresh Das, Concord, Cornwallis, kathak, Old North Bridge, Oriental Society, pioneers, revolution, shot heard 'round the world, Sir William Jones

by George Ruckert

The Shot Heard ‘round the World

In Concord, Mass, there is a monument erected at one end of the famous Old North Bridge, site of the opening conflict of the American Revolution in 1775.  A poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is on monument, erected in 1875 to commemorate the anniversary, begins:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here the embattled farmers stood,

And first the shot heard round the world.

The shot, of course, has had a distinguished career, and revolutions in the name of freedom have followed for the last 200 years and more.  But one of the more immediate results of the Revolution was the defeat of the British general Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781.  Far from being censured, his next appointment was as Governor-General of India in 1786.  He was charged with establishing tax and judicial codes in India which would give the English a financial foundation, as well as helping Hindus plead their judicial cases in Muslim states, and Muslims in Hindu ones. In India he linked up with the recently-arrived barrister Sir William Jones, who was a brilliant linguist also serving the English crown in Calcutta.

Jones was intoxicated when he delved into the extensive richness of the Sanskrit language and its literature.  To help collect, translate, and disseminate this literature, Jones had founded the Asiatic (later the Oriental) Society in 1784.  He translated a minor treatise on Indian music (lost: the Sangita-sara?) and wrote one of the first articles by a westerner on Indian music:  On the Musical Modes of the Hindus (1799).

The Oriental Society was responsible for the first western (English and German) translations of the great books of the Vedic and Sanskrit traditions, including the Vedas, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Upanishads, etc.

When these reached the West, philosophers and literati took note, and Emerson, Thoreau, and the American Transcendentalists, and many European philosophers, among them Kant and Schopenhauer, took great interest.  They paved the way for more specific practitioners of the Hindu philosophies, notably, Madame Blavatsky (Theosophism), Vivekananda (the Vendanta Society), and Inayat Khan (Sufism), to travel to the West.

It would only be a short time when music and dance, led by such artists as Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, and Chitresh Das would plant the West with deep-seeded knowledge and practice in these same fields first plowed and prepared by the early pioneers.

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Chhandika

About Chhandika

Chhandika is a Massachusetts-based, non-profit organization dedicated to Kathak dance. We are affiliated with the Chhandam Chitresh Das Dance Company in San Francisco, California, and the Nritya Bharati Institute in Kolkata, India. Our aim is to provide a stimulating, supportive and multi-cultural environment in which to explore the physical, intellectual and spiritual benefits of Kathak dance as a student, professional practitioner or curious observer.

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Recent Posts

  • Snow Day Dec. 17th announcement
  • Concert in Mumbai—In Memory of Chitresh Das
  • Snow Day Sunday February 8
  • A week in residency, an injection of wisdom and training for a lifetime!
  • November Arts Events–Support Chhandika’s Community Partners

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