GURU PAURNIMA DAY 19 JULY 2016
This is a
new beginning, a restart, a renewal, a reset to zero, a recommencement !
For today
I return to Kathak dance, as an active dancer!
It was
time … for too long I had been on the periphery of the Kathak world, attending
performances whenever I could, talking endlessly about them when I did, and wishing
I were on the other side of the footlights!
I knew, of
course, from experience, that the “other side of the footlights” is hallowed
space where one may not enter unless a lot of blood, sweat and tears have been
expended on riyaaz!
Career
obligations and increasing responsibilities meant I could no longer devote time
to the practice of Kathak, much less to the performance of this art.
So, now,
after triple bypass surgery in February this year, I decided to return to
Kathak and hopefully bring myself to performance level before November 2017.
Yes,
ambitious, but then I am an extremist in all things, as my friends well know!
So this
afternoon, I stood with my eyes closed as the first notes of a nagma came from
my speakers. The table throbbed Teental, and I started with the basic tatkaar
in Teental – thaay, dugun, chaugun, and athgun in slow, easy progression.
I had of
course prayed fervently before I stood up to dance. I recalled the hush before
rehearsals began, and the satisfied sighs at their end. I could hear my late Guru, Pandita Rohini Bhate lead the entire group of dance class students in our Tuesday
evening prayer. And I knew I was ready.
I put
myself through a series of exercises I had planned – for the wrists, the
elbows, the basics that every debutant has to rehearse over many months! All
the while, I kept up the tatkaar – thaay, dugun, chaugun – in successive stages, repeating the pattern
randomly.
Then I got
more ambitious. I tried a vandana and tried to remember another! And then I
stopped to review where I stood at the end of this first, momentous day of my
rehearsals!
The
positives – my memory is sharp. I remember quite a bit! The basic stances seem
not too shabby, the bends etc will be streamlined soon.
The
negatives – Diabetes has turned the soles of my feet to mush! Time was when the
crack of my feet off the floor was loud and sudden! Now – nothing! Not a sound
to be heard! I lose my balance even at
low speeds, and the chakkar were a nightmare! Not pretty to look at, no!
The
takeaways – of course there is so much work to be done! A lot of repair, a lot
of reconstruction, a lot of review, a lot of recalibration! But it can and will be done! A bit every day,
a chunk each week!
Because, I
have some time (till November next year), some leisure (till the end of August
before I start my semester), and lots of determination!
Astu! Ainsi soit-il!
