Kathak virtuoso regales audience at dance fest

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 7

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Kathak virtuoso Shobha Koser regaled the audience with her graceful movements and fine footwork on the inaugural day of the Chandigarh Classical Dance Festival 2021 at Tagore Theatre here today.

The programme commenced with vandana in different ragas for Lord Ganesha, Maa Saraswati, guru and nature. It was dedicated to eminent vocalist late Pt Keshav Talegaonkar. All compositions in this vandana were composed by him and sung by his daughter Shubhra Talegaonkar.

This presentation was followed by Kathak dance of Jaipur Gharana in which Shobha presented ‘gat’, ‘nikas thaat’, ‘paran’, ‘chakradar paran’ and ‘ladi’, followed by beautiful ‘thumri’ in ‘raga kalawati’ with bol “aiso hathilo chhaila”.

The recital concluded with a bhajan “Hey Govind Rakho Sharan”. Koser made a winning partnership with Pandit Madho Prasad on vocals and Fateh Singh Gangani on tabla, Mehmood Khan on table and Saleem Kumar on sitar.

Swift on her feet, Shobha Koser, 76, displayed some energy moving between singing and dancing, taking along artistes and audience alike. Her granddaughter Shubhra Koser, who was in the audience, said: “Look at her, she is not out of breath. She is doing magic on the stage.”

Organised by the North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala, the four-day festival will have performances by Nandita Puri, Suchitra Mitra and Samira Koser.