NEW YORK, October 9, 2006: A New York audience of 750 people was graced with a performance of Kathak dance at the Peter Norton Symphony Space on October 6. The three-hour performance by the maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj along with Saswati Sen and Mahua Shankar was sponsored by World Music Institute as part of the annual Festival of India. The news release explains the dance form and details of the recital, “The North Indian dance form, which is characterized by rhythmic footwork and story-telling, unveiled its charms with both mime and movement. This graceful spontaneous dance form has its origins in the narrative traditions of the village minstrel, who sang of heroic tales and legends of the age, dramatizing the lyrics with subtle gestures and expressions. The seven-part program, in which Saswati Sen, the torch-bearer of Maharaj’s school of dance, and Mahua Shankar, his disciple, took part towards the end, began with solo recital with the Maharaj performing Krishna Chalisha, an invocation to Lord Krishna describing the various stages of his life. The finale began with Sen and Shankar performing a structured musical composition that concluded with Maharaj joining the group in a final climax of footwork and rhythmic interplay.” Robert H. Browning, executive and artistic director of the World Music Institute, summed up the performance, “Notwithstanding the dramatic transformation of India over the past 10 years, the traditional arts are still alive and well.”
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