A lovely evening of Kathak dance from the Banaras Gharana New Delhi.

Natwari Kathak Foundation organized Ras Rang cultural evening on 24th November. Kathak dancer Aruna Swami presented in the dance style of Banaras Gharana in the cultural evening organized in Triveni Auditorium.

Santoor player Dr. Bipul Kumar presented a santoor recital. Kathak dancer Nalini Asthana, writer Dr. Chitra Sharma, sitar player Saeed Zafar, shehnai player Lokesh Anand and other artists were also present in the auditorium to witness the ceremony held on November 24.

When the artists themselves are present to watch and listen to the artists, the atmosphere of the gathering becomes more encouraging.In the ceremony held at Triveni Auditorium, Kathak dancer Aruna Swamy presented Kathak dance in a balanced and graceful manner. Her dance showed stability and maturity.

She is a disciple of Guru Sunayana Hazarilal.She has also learnt the nuances of Kathak from Nisha Jhaveri. Apart from performing on stage with her guru, she has performed in the US, Hong Kong and Taiwan. These days she is teaching the Natwari style of Kathak to young artists in Gurugram through her institute.

Her guru Sunayana Hazarilal was present at the recital. It is natural for the disciple’s morale to be boosted by the presence of the guru. Sunayana Hazarilal herself is a talented artist. She was accompanied by Babar Latif on tabla, Soheb Hasan on singing and Rais Ahmed on sitar.

Last evening he started dancing with Ganesh Vandana in Triveni Auditorium. His emotional aspect in the dance was worth watching. Tarana was also the attraction of his dance.

Kathak dancer Aruna presented Krishna Vandana in the Ras Rang Samaroh. It was based on the part of Shrikrishnashtakam- ‘Bhaje Vrajakmandanam Samastapakhandanam’. It is the composition of Adi Shankaracharya. In this, the episode of Yamuna and Krishna’s birth was depicted very sweetly. The style of rain was expressed through hand movements and foot movements. In the dance aspect, Aruna presented the style of Guru Janaki Prasad in an effective manner. There is a naturalness in her dance with pauses, which is rarely seen in Kathak dancers.

In this part, he presented rhythm on the words ‘Ta Thei Tat’. In vilambit rhythm, he presented Tippalli, Tukde, Parmelu etc. In the mixed rhythm, the footwork was brilliant. Whereas, in the fast Teen Taal, the presentation of the Tihais and Rele of the Chatushra Jati was special. He had chosen Hori for Bhaav Abhinaya. Its lyrics were- ‘Mano Mano Shyam Nandlal Ji’. Aruna used hand movements, footwork, gaits, turns, whirls in a very controlled manner.

While portraying the emotions of the heroine Radha and the hero Krishna, there was a lot of simplicity and spontaneity in their facial expressions and eye expressions. They concluded their dance with a dance based on tarana. This raga was set in Vrindavani Sarang.

Young Santoor player Dr. Bipul Kumar Rai attended the ceremony. Dr. Bipul has received training in Santoor playing from Padma Shri Pandit Bhajan Sopori, a Santoor player of the Sufiana Gharana. He has obtained Masters, MPhil and PhD degrees from Delhi University.

He is an A-grade artist of All India Radio. He is in the prestigious category of Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He has served as a member of Sahitya Kala Parishad, Cultural Advisor to Delhi Government and Kendriya Vidyalaya Governing Body.

He has given performances of Santoor playing in countries like Egypt, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Qatar, China, Thailand, Sri Lanka etc. He has participated in Tansen Samaroh, Akashvani Music Conference, Kala Prakash, Sangeet Natak Academy Samaroh, Saptak, Sangeet Vihaan etc. He also had the opportunity of playing the Santoor along with other artists in front of foreign guests at the G-20 event held last year.

Santoor player Bipul Rai played Raga Marwa of Marwa Thaat. Raga Marwa is a raga full of melody. So player Bipul played in accordance with the nature of the raga by keeping pause on the soft rishabh and sharp madhyam notes in the alaap.

The expansion of the raga blossomed in the middle octave. He played the Jod-Jhaale while presenting the gaats of medium and fast rhythm. At the peak of his playing, he played ‘Na-Dhinna’ in a captivating manner. He concluded his performance with the tune of Raag Pahadi. In this, he presented a glimpse of Garhwali folk tune in a charming way. Young tabla player Babar Latif accompanied him on the tabla. Both the artists made the performance interesting with their good coordination.