The Kathak Ensemble & Friends

Dear Friends, I hope you will enjoy listening to the story of my Kathak journey in Guru Sandip Mallick's interview. You can past the following link in your browsers, https://www.facebook.com/Sonarpur-Nadam-1689119467813337/ and then scroll down to find a list of prominent female Kathak artists and their stories. During this lockdown, when many of us are not traveling, teaching and rehearsing outside our home lockdowns, Guru Sandip Mallick has not bee...n resting. He has used our uncharacteristic immobility to catch us, creating several series of interviews, which explore the lives and teachings of his fellow Kathak artists. The questions which he asks are designed to elicit answers about our Kathak journeys, the roots of our creativity, and our aspirations - what we hope to achieve within the world of Kathak. Sonarpur Nadam's AN ASPIRATION features female Kathak exponents. I am honored that Guru Sandip Mallick has included me in this series. See more

Today's Guest...

Today's Guest At 5pm on Sonarpur Nadam fb page

Dear Friends, We invite you to watch three examples of choreography created by The Kathak Ensemble & Friends in Mudra Academy's ANANTAYA Festival on October 17th at 8:30pm IST / 11am EDT (New York City / East coast). MOZARTAYANA was choreographed in pure Lucknow gharana Kathak. The second and third items were inspired by poetry chosen from the collection of Pakistani Urdu feminist poetry, WE SINFUL WOMEN, edited and translated by Rukhsana Ahmad. The music for the production... was composed by Kiran Ahluwalia. TASVEER, written by Fahmida Riaz, includes many elements of Kathak .... sawal-jawab, sangeet tukra, paramelu and nagmas. The choreography for Kishwar Naheed's poem ANTICLOCKWISE departs radically from the Kathak idiom, and the music includes the sound of a tape rewinding and words spoken backwards. The dancers tumble backwards like dominos, then recover to challenge us all - "to bhi tumhe ye khauf nahi chorega" - even if you blind me, bind my feet, silence me .... even so this fear will not leave you - that I can still think. We hope you'll watch the Kathak Ensemble & Friends' choreography. It is created in collaboration with the dancers who perform in each piece. Cheers! Janaki

Padmavibhushan Pt. Birju Maharaj speaks about the Kathak Ensemble & Friends' choreography MOZARTAYANA, which was presented in Kalashram's festival VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAM.

The The Kathak Ensemble & Friends would like to invite you to its performance of MOZARTAYANA, a choreography by its Founder & Artistic Director, Janaki Patrik with the dancers Sowmya Viswanath, Rashi Verma, Brighid O'Dea, Anisha Muni, Neha Kulkarni, Mrinali Kaul, Tara Chowdhury Rajanandhini Balachandran, Prachi Shah Bakarania. The performance is part of an online festival, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - The World is One Family, being presented by Janakiji's Guru, Pt. Birju MaharajM...aharaj and his organization, Kalashram:- Gulmohar park, New Delhi-110016 on Saturday, September 19, 2020 @ 8:30pm IST (11am EST). Details for viewing the festival can be found in the flyer below. We would love to have you join us for this special festival, featuring choreographies by some of Maharaji's international students. . . . . . #Kathak #KathakDancers #IndianDancers #IndianClassical #IndianClassicalDance #IndianClassicalMusic #NYC #NYCArtists #NYCDancers

CHOREOGRAPHING BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: INDIA & THE UNITED STATES - Part I in an ongoing column WRITTEN by Janaki Patrik; PUBLISHED by NARTHAKI.COM, an online journal about Indian dance, Dr. Anita Ratnam, Editor https://narthaki.com/info/btw/btw1.html

My beloved brother and dance partner, Anup-ji and I were both trained in the Lucknow gharana style of Kathak at Kathak Kendra, New Delhi. Our paths did not cross during our training at Kathak Kendra, because I started my training in 1967, and Anupji’s training and mine did not overlap. But because our Gurus were born in the same family, from the same Kathak dance lineage, we were automatically brother and sister Guru Bhai and Guru Behin. Our brother-sister relationship was ...instant, unquestioning and deep directly from our hearts. We started simply. I was looking for a dance partner. Someone suggested Anup-ji’s name. I called him and we talked briefly about ourselves. Then I asked Anupji if he would like to perform in a school program I was giving in New Jersey the following day. Anupji said YES, and we arranged that I would pick him up at a subway stop at 7am the following morning. Anupji got in the car, and we started reciting our dance bols our dance syllables. It was as if we had been studying and dancing together for our entire lives. We never stopped talking mostly dance language and just a bit of English - during the entire trip to the school. And then we picked up the conversation as soon as we got in the car to return to New York City. And we haven’t stopped talking and dancing and sharing since then. Anupji was a brilliantly creative choreographer, and a wonderful dance partner and collaborator - enthusiastic and generous in sharing his ideas. He was very excited to have founded his own organization Anup Das Dance Academy. ADDA. Short and sweet. Our dance lives have been linked for all the years since I first met Anupji in 1997. Anupji danced in all of the Kathak Ensemble’s productions and school programs until his kidney disease made it difficult for him to do so. We continued our friendship by attending each others programs, and by talking frequently on the phone. The last time I spoke with Anupji, I ended the conversation as always, saying, I love you. Anupji’s life was too short. He was so excited to be entering a new phase in his life - teaching and creating in his own institution. He still had a lot he wanted to do. Goodbye my beloved brother. May you dance in the highest heavens. I love you. Janaki Patrik . . . . . #kathak #kathakdancers #IndianDance #indianclassical #indianclassicaldance #JanakiPatrik #WeSinfulWomen #feminist #poems #urdu

Wishing our Guruji (Janaki Patrik)a very Blessed and Happy Birthday with many more years to come...

Let's not let COVID-19 kill The New York Kathak Festival A message from Janaki Patrik Dear Friends,... The New York Kathak Festival's 2nd Year of workshops and performances, luncheon gatherings and Friday night reception were all ready to take place on April 10 - 11 - 12 at the prestigious Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater. All this had been arranged by a team of volunteers headed by Anisha Muni. The New York Kathak Festival has been canceled due to the ban on large gatherings, dictated by efforts to prevent the spread of COVID 19 virus. A year of effort went into arranging three eminent Gurus as the workshop leaders - Rajendra Gangani ji, Shinjini Maharaj ji, and Prashant Shah ji. Visa arrangements were made. The venue was secured with a deposit. Mailings went out, registrations and ticket sales were completed. How discouraging it must be to the volunteer team to backtrack - sending out refunds, collecting deposits for venue and food orders, and many other details. And then -- start all over again. We as members of the Kathak community and members of its audience can help sustain the New York Kathak Festival's efforts and show them that we appreciate what they have done for us. We can show them that we want to help them recover and hopefully renew arrangements for the Second Kathak Festival. For example, if you have bought a concert ticket, you might let them know that you do not need a refund - at least for one $35 tickets. Or you might give a donation, no matter how small. https://www.nykathakfestival.com/donate I am not a member of the New York Kathak Festival team. I have been a Kathak dancer and teacher for fifty-plus years and I am grateful for all their efforts to promote Kathak. Let's help the New York Kathak Festival survive this unexpected setback and continue their work of presenting and promoting the Great Art of Kathak. If you feel moved then please share this post with your Kathak friends and other interested people in your circle. Sincerely, Janaki Patrik, Artistic Director, The Kathak Ensemble & Friends/CARAVAN, Inc. www.kathakensemble.com

A rare photo of our Founder & Artistic Director Janaki Patrik with Durga Lal post Kathak performance at Rutgers University, New Brunswick on July 6, 1979. @ Rutgers UniversityNew Brunswick

ANTICLOCKWISE The Kathak Ensemble & Friends will perform ANTICLOCKWISE on Saturday, October 5th at 8pm in the American Dance Guild Festival 2019, "Shaping the Now" at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 405 West 55th Street at 9th Avenue in Manhattan. An item from the Ensemble's production WE SINFUL WOMEN, with music by COMPOSER / SINGER Kiran Ahluwalia, ANTICLOCKWISE embodies the words of Pakistani feminist POET Kishwar Naheed. CHOREOGRAPHED by Artistic Director of The Ka...thak Ensemble, Janaki Patrik, the dance upends male dominance through its music, poetry, and movement. Even after you have tied the chains of wifely duties, shame and modesty around my feet Even after you have paralyzed me Even so this fear will not leave you that even though I cannot walk I can still think. (4th verse) DANCERS: Angelina Haque, Aparna Reddy-Sargent, Pooja Sankhe, Kirti Thorat, Sowmya Viswanath Photo Credits: Parth Shiras . . . Get your TICKETS online now (tickets range from $10-25): https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4320791 When: Saturday, Oct 5, 2019 @ 8 PM Where: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 405 W 55th St, New York, New York 10019 Looking forward to seeing you there! <3 . . . . . #IndianDance #Contemporary #JanakiPatrik #WeSinfulWomen #feminist #poems #urdu