International Day: Dances performed to pay tribute to veteran dancer

Culture secretary seeks promotion of peaceful co-existence and tolerance in the country

LAHORE: Kathak and other dances were performed by students from various education institutes in the city at an International Dance Day event on Wednesday to pay tribute to veteran dancer Nighat Chaudhry. 

The event was organised by the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) in collaboration with the Lahore Arts Council. The performance of sub rang, a dance form that combines element of Kathak and Bhangra and is performed on rock music, was particularly popular with the audience.

The performances had started with a Kathak performance by protégés of Naheed Siddiqui. Students from National College of Arts and the Lahore Grammar School also performed. Shazia Nawaz, a visitor, said she had particularly liked the performances where elements from Kathak were featured with more modern dance forms.

The event also featured screening of a documentary on Nighat Chaudhry. Chaudhry talked about the importance of dance in her personal life. She said dance had provided her with an escape from her domestic woes. “I would practice dance all day long to be away from home after my parents got divorced,” she said.

She said she had decided to move to Pakistan to learn Kathak after she came across Naheed Siddiqui’s work.

Addressing the gathering, Culture Secretary Muhammad Azam, who was the chief guest, called upon the audience to work for promotion of peaceful co-existence and tolerance in the country. He said the part of the Indian subcontinent that was now Pakistan was the birth place of Sikhism and was home to many holy sites of Hinduism.

Azam said it was heartening to see that a huge number of people had turned out to attend the event.

Talking to The Express Tribune, PNCA director Amna Pataudi said the council had been celebrating International Dance Day for four years now. She said last year’s event was dedicated to Naheed Siddiqui. This year the council dedicated it to Nighat Chaudhry.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2015.