The Kathak Ensemble & Friends

Today is International Women's Day 2025 - Saturday, March 8. To celebrate this day, I wrote an article about a production based on poems celebrating women - their tenderness, challenges and power. WE SINFUL WOMEN - a collection of poems translated and edited by Rukhsana Ahmad. It was posted on my March 2025 column in NARTHAKI online journal of Indian Dance - "Choreographing Between Two Worlds - India and the United States". https://narthaki.com/info/btw/btw12.html

I send greetings and thanks to the dancers who created this production with me - Aditi Dhruv, Kanushree Jain, Megha Kalia, Romanee Kalicharran, Bharati Penneswaran, Saloni Somani; and to the brilliant composer Kiran Ahluwalia who gave melody and rhythm to the words of the poets; and to all the musicians who gave voice and melody to Kiran's music - Steve Gorn, Pandit Ramesh Misra, Nitin Mitta, Samarth Nagarkar, Manoshi Chitra Neogy, Qurashi Roya, Rich Stein. And greetings to all my colleagues and friends throughout the world and TO ALL WOMEN.

Asian American Pacific Islander Month: Bangladeshi Folk Dance – Its Cultural & Geographic Context
Live & Virtual
Join Zoom Meeting: https://queenslib.org/3SMtUYK Meeting ID: 867 4143 3835 Passcode: 0504 STARR funded program
Presented by The Kathak Ensemble and Dancers from the Anup Das Dance Academy
41-17 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11355
At Queens Library- Flushing Branch - 41-17 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11355 - (718) 661-1200
When monsoon rains pour down on Bangladesh, as much as 90% of the land can be covered by water. But when the sun shines, the rich soil of this “land between rivers” produces an abundance of crops. The folk dances of Bangladesh reflect the geography, climate, history and culture of this fascinating country. BOLO BIR - choreographed to the words of Bangladesh's national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam by Miton Deb, Harvest Dance and Fishermen’s Dance, choreographed by company founder Anup Kumar Das. are among the dances presented by The Kathak Ensemble and Dancers from the Anup Das Dance Academy. This program will be a live presentation with the option for the audience to join virtually:
Join Zoom Meeting: https://queenslib.org/3SMtUYK Meeting ID: 867 4143 3835 Passcode: 0504 STARR funded program

I'm looking forward to seeing my friend Kathak Guru Prerana Deshpande performing with her students on 9 April 2023 @ 4pm . The performance will be at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 West 55th Street in Manhattan. I hope to see you there. Janaki

NARTANAM - January-March 2022
https://hub.batoi.com/nartanam-vol-xxii-no-1-62835d6e316ee
The Making of an American Kathak Dancer

Dear Friends,
Two years ago Dr. Madhavi Puranam, the editor of NARTANAM - A Quarterly Journal of Indian Dance, asked me to write about my 55 years in the world of Kathak. The resulting story has been published in NARTANAM's inaugural issue as an online digital journal. This format has allowed the inclusion of many photos and notes from productions created since the founding of The Kathak Ensemble & Friends/CARAVAN, Inc. in 1978.
Whether you just scroll through the many photos or read a bit about the process and ideas behind individual productions, I hope you will enjoy learning about my journey.
Janaki Patrik, Artistic Director

As I honor my Guru Maharaji - Padma Vibhushan Pandit Birju Maharaji, I also remember the woman by his side who helped to build his legacy - demonstrating when he taught, taking the lead role in his productions, conceptualizing and facilitating the fulfillment of his ideas, materializing his dream of his institute Kalashram - and also packing his suitcase, laying out his costumes, talking with contractors - a thousand details so that he could rest and dream. My students and I wish her the strength to continue in her path, now without the physical presence of her Maha Guru, but with a clear vision of his dream - and hers.
VIDUSHI SASWATI SEN

Beloved Maharaji has gone to dance with Krishna and Radha in heavenly Vrindavan. He has left great gifts to each of us who have studied with him -- glorious foundations on which to build our own Kathak art. He has left beautiful memories to each of us who has seen his performances.
From my first glimpse of Maharaji in 1963, to my first lessons from him in 1967, until my last glimpses of him in 2020 when he gave me his ashirvad at the end of the September 2020 Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam Festival - I have venerated him and his art. Maharaji no longer walks the earth ... but his ghungroos are heard from heaven, and a mighty echo resounds in the ghungroos of his children, grandchildren, students and disciples. His legacy lives.

SHIVA and KALI embody universal truths which are not limited to one culture. I use my choreographic imagination to manifest the unifying truths of the underlying universality of myth and spirituality. My mother called this universal power "The Great Life Force". To manifest the universality I find in such images as SHIVA and KALI, I choose dancers whose bodies manifest this universality. They are born from a multiplicity of ethnic origins. I do not believe in the divisive half-truth and the "othering" of such statements as:

"Regardless of how much we might say Kathak is art Kathak is art, the truth is that there are elements of culture, heritage, history, and language all wrapped up in it, and so those are important areas to explore for practitioners. It is possible that in the next few generations of Kathak dancers in the US we'll see an exploration of different stories/music/material, developing independently from Kathak's trajectory in India. "

I say - WHY WAIT? THE TIME IS NOW TO EXPLORE THE UNIFYING POWER OF INDIAN MYTH AND OF KATHAK's TECHNIQUES. WE ARE THE ONES TO DO THE WORK OF UNIFYING. NOW NOW NOW. WHY WAIT?

I purposefully chose dancers of mixed ethnicity, who reflected the universal powers of SHIVA and KALI in my 2010 and 2012 productions of POWER PLAY - Jamaican, Western European, Bangladeshi, Japanese, Hawaiian-Chinese, Indian, African-American. One and all they are dancers whose emotions and understanding of the glory and power of Shiva and Kali manifested on their faces and bodies. That is all and everything that I asked from them, and they gave it.

SHIVA: the late Anup Kumar Das, Scott Lewis, Matthew Wagner
KALI: Ahnya Chang, Caron Eule, Sandhya Menon, Yayoi Suzuki, Sowmya Viswanath.

Co-choreographers: Janaki Patrik and Anup Kumar Das with the Dancers.
Photos (c) Ira Landgarten

Beloved Friends, Gurus, Guru Bhai and Guru Behin,
I have been following reports about the devastation and terror as it unfolds in India, and COVID takes out its horrible price in human life. Since I live far away in New York City, I cannot give any physical help. Instead I have donated to OXFAM to help provide oxygen and other necessary supplies. I am familiar with this organization, and I know its work to be honest and devoted to humanitarian relief.

Meanwhile I am dedicating the edited version of my 1997 production MANDALA X / Creation to THE PEOPLE OF INDIA. I hope that this visualization of the Rig Vedic Hymn of Creation will give some relief from the overwhelming sorrow and destruction.
https://youtu.be/vcRs4GYswpg Information about this production is included at https://narthaki.com/info/btw/btw6.html

With my love and prayers,
Janaki Patrik, Artistic Direction
The Kathak Ensemble & Friends

The Kathak organization Nupur Zankar, founded and directed by Vidushi Shila Mehta, has created a festival which examines the four major Kathak gharanas - Lucknow, Jaipur, Varanasi and Raigarh. Tickets for this virtual festival can be purchased as follows:
Season link (both parts): https://shaale.com/watch/sanskritimahotsav
Part 1: https://shaale.com/watch/sanskritimahotsavpart1
Part 2: https://shaale.com/watch/sanskritimahotsavpart2
The Festival dates are April 10 through May 8, 2021.. All episodes, which have been recorded on videos, are available to watch - multiple times if you wish - through May 14, 2021.
I have watched all four of the episodes which have been premiered to date, and I have found this to be a fine summary of the gurus, performers and major stylistic features of each gharana. A special feature of each episode is the introductory remarks made by Vidushi Shila Mehta. For example Episode 3 is introduced by her comments on the meaning of a Guru.
Shila-ji has accomplished a remarkable feat by gathering representatives of all four sometimes rivalrous and contentious gharanas to showcase the expansive glory of the great art of Kathak.
In her opening comments about this festival, Shilaji said that arts are healing. Demonstrating her commitment to this statement, she has dedicated this festival to raising awareness and funds for autism.

A new installment of Janaki Patrik's ongoing NARTHAKI column, "Choreographing Between Two Worlds - India and the United States" has been posted. It discusses the choreographic process of the Kathak Ensemble's production MANDALA X / CREATION : A Dance Oratorio. Inspired by the NASADIYA SUKTA, Rig Veda X.129, The Hymn of Creation, MANDALA X premiered on 20 March 1997, the Vernal Equinox. A video of the production will be posted shortly, when the YouTube link will be inserted into the article.
https://narthaki.com/info/btw/btw6.html , which was posted on the NARTHAKI website on 14 April.
1st photo - Ramli Ibrahim & Janaki Patrik (c) Herbert Migdoll
2nd photo - The Ensemble (c) Tom Brazil