Kathak

Kathak is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as Kathakaar ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the Hindu epics through dance, songs, and music. Its name derives from the Sanskrit word kathaa which means "story", and kathakaar which means "the one who tells a story" or "to do with stories". As time went on the dance-form acquired aspects of technical movement expertise in addition to the story-telling features, so nowadays performers usually give equal emphasis to both. Kathak evolved during the Bhakti movement, particularly by incorporating the childhood stories of the Hindu deity Krishna, as well as independently in the courts of North India. Especially during the Mughal rule, the emperors were patrons of Kathak dance and actively promoted it in their royal courts. The Nawab of Awadh, Emperor Wajid Ali Shah himself was a practitioner of Kathak. Kathak performances include Urdu ghazal and commonly used instruments brought during the Mughal period. As a result, it is the only Indian classical dance form to feature Persian elements. Stylistically, the Kathak dance form emphasizes rhythmic foot movements, with the ankles adorned with small bells (Ghungroo) and the movement harmonized to the music and especially its rhythm.¶

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Kathak”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.¶

Kathak is One of the Indian classical dances, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition.¹¶

The source record links this tradition to 10 external registers, which can be verified through the citation.¹¶