Indian dance goes global

International dance festivals are inviting Indian classical dancers to perform on their stage. It has become a trend and pride for Indian dancers who sizzle at the international level. There are many people of Indian origin working outside India to promote Indian art forms  like Kathak and Bharathanatyam.

Kathak is a ritual and pure Indian classical dance style, in which there is full attention to rhythm. In this classical dance form, particular attention is given to the foot stroke and roaming.

“Music itself is therapy. It releases good hormones which will make a person feel good, especially in the turbulence of depression it’s good therapy. The benefit of Kathak is it gives a lot of freedom as an international art form where one can portray their emotion without being overdramatic. It is also very good for cardio muscular exercise which helps in shaping the muscle and tones the skin and keeps a person fit”, says Anindita Neogy Anaam, Kathak dancer and the director of Sargam School of Music and Dance, presently based in Wisconsin, USA.

Most classical Kathak dances depict the love story of Radha-Krishna and the spring of their life. Kathak has an excitement and is specialty entertainment. Its rhythm and fast rotation holds an active place and is also the most critical feature of this genre.  

Anindita explains about career options in Kathak, “In India, art is not highly paid and one has to make their way around it, but there are a lot of career options like one being choreographers, instructors, freelancing as a guru, online classes and also if someone is into semi-classical and Kathak then that is a decent career to start with.”

Dance is also used as a storyteller to tell a lot of stories because various emotions can be expressed through it and there is also no particular age restriction to learn dance.

One among them is Hari Krishnan, artistic director of Toronto (Canada)-based Company in inDANCE promotes Bharatanatyam abroad from Tamil cinema and the history of courtesan dance traditions in South India. He has just completed a monograph entitled Celluloid Classicism: Early Tamil Cinema and the Making of Modern Bharatanatyam. He continues to be
commissioned internationally for his bold choreography.

There is a bright chance in Indian traditional dance and everything depends upon the dancer and how he or she wants to take their dancing career ahead.