POETRY IN MOTION: Prachee Shah Paandya shows her prowess during the electric performance. Photo: Jayan Orma
By Anand HollaThe jingling of more than 400 tiny bells studded all through a set of heavy anklets she had worn, sweetened the warm acoustics of Katara Drama Theatre.The bells’ ringing is meant to mimic the various sounds of the pouring rain, and in these sweltering summer nights of Qatar, how the audience wished the sound brought a drizzle.Kathak exponent and actor Prachee Shah Paandya’s incredibly fast-paced footwork had waged a jugalbandi, or an intense duet, with the percussion rhythms of the tabla player, while the harmonium, sarangi and vocals took turns to chime in. The playoff reached a crescendo. The enraptured audience, comprising a veritable list of dignitaries, rewarded this section of the performance, like others, with a hearty applause.As part of the celebrations marking India’s 69th Independence Day, this event held last week at Katara was organised by the Indian Cultural Centre and sponsored by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Shah’s rousing, hour-long kathak performance was packed with the finest of twirls, expressions, hand gestures, and footwork. Apart from putting out an impressive act, Shah even took the audience through the basics of Kathak, intermittently taking to the mic before gliding into her nritya (expressive dance).Accompanied by her mentor Guru Ganesh Hiralal on harmonium, Sraboni Chaudhuri on vocals, Umesh Hasal on tabla, and Farooque Khan on sarangi, Shah’s four-act set explored devotion, expression, spoken rhythmic patterns, melody and yearning. “This is such a wonderful stage, and you are a great audience,” Shah said, a couple of times during her performance that is part of her larger international tour.The government of India recently appointed Shah as a cultural ambassador for solo kathak performances at various destinations across the world. Moreover, Shah holds a Guinness World Record for performing 93 kathak spins in a minute. At Katara, her 27 spins in a row, towards the end, won her a crackling wave of claps. Dressed in beautiful blue traditional kathak attire, Shah had just introduced and re-introduced one of the eight forms of Indian classical dance to Doha.“It was fantastic performing here,” said Shah, having successfully pulled herself out from the endless stream of audience members eager to have their photos clicked with her. “People were calm and attentive. Also, I like it when there are infants in the crowd,” she said and smiled, “I mean if they cry during the performance, it kind of spoils the vibrations.”Good vibrations are integral to kathak as its form today owes its origins to temple and ritual dances, and the influence of the bhakti movement. Kathak, the name, is derived from the Sanskrit word katha which means story, and katthaka in Sanskrit means he who tells a story. Kathak’s origins are traced back to “the nomadic bards of ancient northern India,” known as kathakaars or storytellers.Shah has a Masters in kathak and is an acclaimed kathak dancer of Jaipur Gharana — gharana being a school, with there being three major gharanas of Kathak that are Jaipur, Lucknow and Varanasi. Shah’s devotion to kathak propels her passion. “For me, kathak means everything because it’s been my life. I started kathak when I was three years old and my first stage performance was when I was five,” she said.All along, kathak is where she has found her peace. “For me, this is the only form of meditation. When I perform, it appears that I am looking at the audience, but I am not,” she said, “I am actually looking into the dark of the hall. I allow myself to be led purely by the vibrations of the stage, of the auditorium, of the music, of people, their response, and the applause I get. To me, it’s just a space to be one with God. To me, it’s a prayer.”Shah has given more than 200 performances in India, USA, UK and South Africa, including notable ones such as at the Ajanta-Ellora Festival, Elephanta Festival, Sangeet Natak Akademy, Taj Mahotsav-Agra, Pune and Lucknow Festivals, and the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.“It’s been more than 30 years now,” Shah said, referring to her association with the dance form, “Probably, every muscle and every vein that spans through my body has imbibed it. Sometimes, I don’t realise where the energy is coming from. Sometimes, I may be feeling exhausted or low, but the moment I am on stage, there’s some kind of divine energy that emerges within the body. It amazes even me to believe that it can feel so effortless. It’s a matter of practice and being consistent about it for years together.”Among a huge stash of awards that she has been feted with, some are special titles such as Sringarmani and Nritya Urvashi. Not only is Shah a multitalent — she is a qualified architect, a trained classical singer, a sitar player and a popular face on Indian television thanks to her roles in serials like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi…, Koshish Ek Asha, Kahin Diya Jale Kahin Jiya, and has acted in a few Bollywood films as well — she is also modest about her mastery.When asked about her seemingly proficient grasp on kathak, Shah said she is still avidly searching for ways to break new ground. “There is such a wide range of interpretations one can present, depending on the audience one is presenting it to. It’s interesting when you travel all over the world and perform and you realise that there are a lot of people who understand the art. You can keep changing the permutation and combination of it. The options are limitless,” she explained.Shah sure reached out to Doha with the right mix of dance and recitations. Among several VIP guests at the event such as HE Dr Hassan Lahdan Saqr al-Mohannadi, Minister of Justice, Government of the State of Qatar; Ibrahim Fakhroo, Director, Department of Protocol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara; there were also a long line of diplomats.Spain’s Ambassador to Qatar, Igancio Escobar, told Community, “Watching her fantastic performance, and especially the footwork, made me wonder whether the roots of this dance form has any link with the flamenco dance of the gypsies back in Spain.”Shah admits that kathak traverses such a wide spectrum of expressions that one doesn’t know where to start and where to end. “It’s still a learning process for me. My Guruji (mentor) still comes to my home and teaches me,” said Shah, who lives in Mumbai, “But every performance, every venue, every audience and every country teaches you something new, and shows you where you can still do better. For an artiste, excellence is a never-ending quest.”At the picturesque Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University in Mount Abu, Shah experienced something that every artiste dreams of — a confluence of energies, a convergence of vibrations. “That place has one of the best atmospheres that I have ever come across in the world,” Shah said.“Once I was performing there, and particularly during my last act, when I plunged into the footwork and the rhythmic sound of my anklets relate to the sound of rain, it actually started raining,” Shah recalled, “That was one of the greatest moments I have felt as an artiste. It was a morning performance and it wasn’t even a monsoon month. People stood up. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Probably, those are the vibrations you send to the universe and the universe sends them back. It’s the energy you send out that comes back to you, doubled up.”