As Shovana Narayan enters the 75th year of her life, her disciples gathered to honour her with a tribute titled Sharanyam. The evening at the India Habitat Centre was a celebration of her journey as a guru.
Of nritya and nostalgia From Shovana’s first disciple, who started learning Kathak from her in 1972 at her Jangpura home, to those who started training under her virtually during COVID, many of her shishyas performed her dance productions like Yashodhara, Moonlight Impressionism and Chaand.
Disciples performed Shovana’s 1980s production Chaand
The rhythmic sounds of ghungroos, tapping feet, clapping hands and playful expressions, captivated the audience and admirers of the art form. While Chaand was based on different phases of the moon having different psychological impacts on people, Yashodhara was a choreography based on Maithili Sharan Gupt's poem about the sacrifice of a women. In the piece Moonlight Impressionism, dancers performed Kathak on western classical music by Ravel, Beethoven, Mozart and Debussy.
A dancing tribute to Shovana didi
Shruti Gupta Chandra and Madhura Pathak, Shovana Narayan's senior disciples
Dr Herbert Traxl, Shovana Narayan’s husband and former Austrian Ambassador
The dancers culminated the evening with Dhwani-Pratidhwani, a footwork-centric piece set by Shovana in 1986, as their guru joined them on the stage to perform. “I am touched by the gesture of my students – a beautiful family of daughters. Many of the choreographies that were performed today were set in the ’70s or ’80s, so it was lovely to relive those memories,” said the Kathak exponent.
Shovana Narayan and Sonal Mansingh
Sharon Lowen
Shovana Narayan joined her students for the finale Dhwani Pratidhwani
Pics: Lokesh Kashyap
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