‘Dance is a form of self expression’

Veteran Kathak dancer says she is considering setting up a performing arts institute.

LAHORE: There is no such thing as perfection in dance. Like all other art forms, it is just a way of expressing oneself, Kathak dancer Nighat Chaudhry said on Sunday.

She was speaking at The Tales of Kathak Dance with Nighat Chaudhry session at the Lahore Music Meet. Chaudhry was accompanied at the session by her three dance students.

She said the impression that people learnt dance so that they could perform in front of an audience was incorrect.

Chadhry said she had grown up in the West where she learnt ballet dancing. However, she said, she developed an interest in Kathak and learnt it on her arrival in Pakistan.

Kathak is a dance performed to the tabla and sitar music.

Earlier, she briefed the audience on the evolution of the Kathak dance in the sub-continent. She said the Vedas mentioned Kathak as a means of educating people. She said it had originally started as a way for people to tell their stories to an audience.  Kathak performances eventually became popular in the courts of Indian rulers, she added.

She said over the years kathak performed in the northern parts of India had borrowed from various other dance forms including the Western ballet.



She also discussed her plans to start an institute of performing arts in the country. She said the purpose of establishment of the institute was to start a structured training programme for those interested in various performing arts. Chaudhry and her students later performed Raag Des, Kathak dance performed to 16 different beats.

The session started with an hour’s delay. A large number of people had showed up to listen to the veteran dancer.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2015.