The romance of Kathak will come alive

On Thursday, 25th January, 2007, at the Ananda College Hall, famous Kathak dancer from India, Geetanjali Lal will recreate the magical atmosphere of the Mughal darbars and the Rajasthani courts of yore, with the brilliance of Kathak footwork, the sensuousness of the thumri and the majesty of dances like the Durga stuti when she dances in celebration of the 58th Republic Day of India.

Geetanjali Lal will be heading a 9-member Kathak dance troupe to Sri Lanka. Geetanjali, who is considered a great exponent of abhinaya, will be performing a thumri in which she will through the use of mind, hand gestures and expressions, evoke the emotions of the thumri, which are songs of love and separation. She will also perform dance items which bring out the nuances of the Jaipur school of Kathak dance.

A very special composition that we will be privileged to view will be the Bho Shambho. A dance in praise of Lord Shiva, this is a specially choreographed Kathak dance set to a Carnatic composition by Dayanand Saraswati. Another highlight will be the Salami, in which male dancer Sunil Lal and the young and beautiful Seema Malhotra will perform the Kathak as danced in Mughal courts, full of breath-taking pirouettes and brilliant footwork in a fast paced dialogue with the tabla.

The grand finale will be an effervescent Holi dance, in which all the performers will sing, dance and play with colours, recreating the spring festival celebrated in March all across northern India. Holi also signifies the victory of good over evil.

Geetanjali has learnt Kathak from a young age from some of the great exponents of Kathak like, Roshan Kumari, Mohan Rao Kalyanpurkar and Devi Lal. She is presently a guru at the Kathak Kendra, New Delhi. She will also be performing on 27th January in Trinity College Hall in Kandy and on 29th January at the Indian Cultural Centre (ICC), Colombo. Passes for all shows may be collected from the ICC.

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Geethanjali Lal to perform in Sri Lanka

Geetanjali Lal, a renowned Kathak dancer from India is visiting Sri Lanka heading a 9 member Kathak dance troupe to perform on the occasion of the 58th Republic Day of India. She is performing on 25th January at Ananda College auditorium and on 29th January at the Indian Cultural Centre. Her Kandy performance is scheduled for 27th January at Trinity College Hall.

Geetanjali Lal's visit to Sri Lanka is being sponsored by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to mark the 58th Republic day of India. The performances in Sri Lanka are being organized by the High Commission of India with local sponsorship from Taj Samudra Hotel and VSNL.

Kathak is among the six major classical dances of India and one of the most dynamic theatre arts in the world. The word Kathak is derived from katha meaning the art of story-telling. From its early form as a devotional expression dedicated to the Hindu Gods and danced by Brahmin males, Kathak gradually moved out of the temples and into the courts of the rulers and developed into two distinct gharanas , the Jaipur gharana and the Lucknow gharana

The elegance and innovation that Geetanjali Lal has brought to her dance is well-known in the world of Kathak. Belonging to the Jaipur gharana, or regional style of dance, of Kathak, Geetanjali has been dancing and teaching since the past many years. Recently she has been appointed as the chief of the Repertory Company of the Kathak Kendra, New Delhi. Geetanjali's solo performances have been applauded by audiences wherever she has performed. With her striking personality, her tall figure and good looks, she has often reminded onlookers of a nayika springing to life from miniature paintings. She is well known for her sensitive abhinaya and other brilliant features of the Jaipur gharana, like laykaari, intricate rhythmic patterns in her footwork. She is a choreographer of note, known for her imaginative choreography delineating actual incidents. Geetanjali Lal had, ringing out the year 2001, surprised the audience with her imaginative choreography drawing on the tragic earthquake in Kutch, the attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, and the popular TV quiz show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati' starring Amitabh Bachchan.

For invitations to her performances in Colombo please contact the Indian Cultural Centre, No 133, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo - 4 Tel.No. 2500014. For performance in Kandy, please contact the Assistant High Commission of India at Kandy on Tel No 081-2222625.