The Fountain Theatre expands its commitment to dance on the second Sunday of each month, partnering with Chitresh Das Dance Company to bring classical North Indian Kathak to Los Angeles audiences. Disciples of internationally renowned Kathak master and guru Pandit Chitresh Das will bring Mehfil-e, a series of dynamic dance and music performances, to the Fountain stage, kicking off on Sunday, October 11 at 7:30 pm.
"We are calling the series Mehfil-e, which literally translated means an evening of courtly entertainment in an intimate setting," explains Fountain Theatre co-artistic director Deborah Lawlor. "Audiences will be able to experience this thrilling art form in The Fountain's charming, up-close venue."
The Fountain is already the foremost presenter of Flamenco in Los Angeles. Its celebrated Forever Flamenco! series, now in its seventh year, continues on the first and third Sunday of every month.
Kathak dance is characterized by lighting fast footwork and pirouettes, rhythmic interplay, and nuanced, graceful movements. The pure thrill of Kathak comes from upaj (improvisation) - one never knows what will come next. In a traditional performance, the dancer and musician come together with little or no rehearsal, following a loose structure and a selected underlying rhythm; each performance is "newly" created based on the mood of dancer and musicians, the audience, the time of day, and a myriad of x-factors. The focus is on the skill of the dancer and the rhythmic interplay between the dancer and musician, with little emphasis on production elements such as lighting or props. Highly unpredictable and risky, the traditional performance is considered the highest level of mastery in Kathak and a deep physical, mental and spiritual undertaking. Years of direct training under a guru are required, as well as tremendous skill in each of the four elements of Kathak: tayari (stunning technique in footwork, pirouettes and movement); layakari (performing and improvising intricate rhythms); and khoobsurati and nazakat (beauty and subtlety of movement and expression).
"Bring-the-house-down, feel-it-in-your-bones rhythm," wrote Rachel Howard in the San Francisco Chronicle. "Watch out Savion Glover; you may have 'Da Funk,' but you don't have Chitresh Das... Perhaps an enterprising producer will know a hot show when he sees it. I'd be in line for a ticket."
No Kathak performance is complete without the rendition of a story, and the Chitresh Das dancers, true to tradition, will bring to life the ancient myths of India - the sensual love between Lord Krishna and Radha, or the wrath of Lord Indra, god of rain and thunder.
Amidst the rendering of the traditional aspects of Kathak, the company also performs Kathak Yoga, a ground-breaking innovation that highlights the sophisticated mathematics involved in Indian classical dance.
In the past four decades, due in part to growing Western influence, traditional Kathak has been in rapid decline, replaced in India and internationally by choreography, group productions, and fusion art forms. Many of the performances no longer maintain the level of improvisation and technique historically related and central to the Kathak. Pandit Das' commitment to preserving the tradition of Kathak is unwavering. The Mehfil-e series performances reveal this commitment and unveil a new generation of Kathak dancers preserving and simultaneously evolving the traditional elements of Kathak dance.
A child prodigy, Pandit Chitresh Das has become one of the most dynamic and far-reaching artists to emerge from modern India. A prolific artist, his traditional performances, choreography and evolution of Kathak, the classical dance of North India, have influenced the art form worldwide. Trained from the age of nine by his guru, Pandit Ram Narayan Mishra, Pandit Das was schooled in both major Kathak traditions, embodying each in his artistry: the graceful and sensual elements of the Lucknow school combined with the dynamic and powerful rhythms and movements of the Jaipur School. His performing career was launched in India when he was invited by Pandit Ravi Shankar to perform in the first Rimpa Festival in Benaras. He has since performed throughout India and internationally in many of the most prestigious festivals and venues, including the Lincoln Center, the Olympics, Surya Festival, Chennai, Dover Lane Conference, Kolkata, the National Kathak Festival in New Delhi, the American Dance Festival, for the Maharaja of Jodhpur and many others. In 2004 Pandit Das was featured in a national PBS television program, his performance in a historic court in Kolkata was broadcast on BBC national U.K. television and he is regularly featured on Indian national television. Pandit Das spends much of his time in India performing, giving workshops and teaching at his school, Chhandam Nritya Bharati, in Kolkata. In order to make the knowledge and self-awareness that comes with learning Kathak accessible to all, he and Chhandam Nritya Bharati offer free, ongoing classes to children of the red light district in partnership with the New Light Foundation.
