American scholars enjoy Kathak in Gaya

GAYA: A group of nearly two dozen US scholars of New York-based Luce Foundation, during the wrap up part of their yearlong programme for understanding of problems being faced by Asian countries and curative measures, visited Gaya on Tuesday. Having worked for one year in different Asian countries like Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India,

Indonesia

, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar,

Nepal

, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea,

Taiwan

,

Thailand

, and Vietnam, the Luce fellows gathered in India for the two week long wrap up session.


A former advisor in the US embassy and coordinator of the wrap up programme Kailash Jha said, “The group toured states like Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. After visiting important ghats of Ganga in Patna, the Luce fellows reached Gaya on Tuesday and visited world famous Vishnupad temple.”

On Tuesday evening, the group watched a

Kathak

dance performance by Piyush Chavan and Preeti Sharma, the Delhi-based husband wife duo of Kathak exponents of Jaipur gharana. The magical foot work and facial expressions of the dancers got an overwhelming response from the young American men and women who, besides almost hysterical clapping gave vocal expressions to their several rounds of applaud.

At the end of the 90 minute-long cultural programme, the audience gave a standing ovation to the performers. The event was jointly organised at the

Renaissance

auditorium by the Dayanand-Sushila Sanskritik Kendra and Luce Foundation. Before the commencement of the cultural programme, Renaissance chief Sanjay Sahay explained the basic concepts of Kathak, the most popular dance form of north India. For a change, Kathak performers too, in between the solo and duet performances explained the intricacies of the dance form. Those present included Magadh range DIG Vinay Kumar, national award winning film Patang’s co producer Durba Sahay and senior lawyer and literary critic Ashok Kumar.

At the end, the group enjoyed Indian food including roti, rice, dal, mixed vegetable and gulab jamun.