June 11th, 2009
Uma Sharma and Kathak in Delhi
In the great city of Delhi, India, hotels are known for their incredible hospitality, sense of sharp and hip urban design, combined with the comforts and grace of one of the world’s most continually-inhabited cities. It haunts the imaginations of famous poets and writers, and has done so for centuries, and also captures the hearts and minds of travelers and locals alike. There is an incredible display of humanity here, with many cultures, religions, traditions, and languages represented. It is a truly dazzling place, where the heartbeat is constant and vibrant.
There are all sorts of ways to get pleasantly and utterly lost here. One of the rich art forms that finds beautiful displays by master artists is the art of dance. There are long and fascinating traditions of dance here, and for traditional Hindu dance forms, there are schools and gurus who teach through initiation. This kind of training is very different than traditional Western institutions, and the results are generations of artists who are extremely well-trained and very disciplined. Uma Sharma is perhaps one of the most famous artists living in Delhi, and her parties are always well-attended by celebrities and the press. Her fame comes from her contributions to the art of the Kathak dance. Ms. Sharma was initiated into this form by her guru Hiralalji, and Girvar Dayal of the Jaipur gharana, and she has worked more or less continuously and relentlessly for several decades, and her life mission is to bring dignity and attention back to Kathak. She is considered to already be highly successful in her aims.
Kathak has a long history in India, and for many generations was part of a classical repetoire. For a number of years, unfortunately, colonial rule and the colonial gaze turned it into something else. Uma Sharma is one of the leaders in making this a thing of great beauty. She combines the dance with modern Hindi-Urdu poetry, and the result is a form that has brought her international attention. She is also running a very highly-regarded dance school in her name, and continues the tradition of education through initiation with a guru. She speaks elegantly and poetically about her experience in dancing, where it becomes an unconscious act of movement, similar if not actual ecstasy, and her words invest her life with even more power. She is truly a treasure for Delhi, and all of India.
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