Three-working day Kathak dance fest concludes at IDEB
A three-moment Kathak dance event, titled 9th Kathak Nritya Utsab concluded at Muktijuddha Smriti Auditorium in Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh in Kakrail of Dhaka.The festival, which began on Thursday, has been organised for the ninth consecutive year by Kathak Nritya Sampraday, which has been attempting to promote Kathak dance across the country.The festival is featuring both solo and group dance performances.
Freedom fighter and theatre activist M Hamid inaugurated the event. Dance directors MR Wasek and Farhana Chowdhury Baby, Chhayanaut Sangeet Bidyayatan teacher Belayet Hossain Khan and others were present as friends at the inaugural ceremony.Kathak Nritya Sampradaya director Saju Ahmed delivered welcome speech at the event.
'COVID-19 has influenced the livelihoods of artistes. Many professional dancers were forced to make career transformation. Though it is tricky to organise dance festivals amid the COVID-19 crisis, such occurrences can inspire little professional dancers to continue with their profession,' said M Hamid.
'There are eight varieties of classical dances namely Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Mohinattyam, Odissi and Sattriya in the Indian sub-continent. Every year we organise this festival at Chhayanut auditorium but this season we organized it at Muktijuddha Smriti auditorium due to the COVID-19 crisis. Such festivals help enhance Kathak dance among the younger era,' said Saju Ahmed.
Eminent dancer Munmun Ahmed, Saju Ahmed, Ananna Wafi Rahman, Shuporna, Priyanka, Tasnia Imam, Purna, Sruti, Maliha, Tanha, Anusa, Jarin, Boisakhi Majumder, Oni, Monira parvin Happy, Partho Das, Dipa Sarkar and others performed at the festival found on the opening time. Dancers namely Saju Ahmed, Shuporna, Priyanka, Tasnia Imam, Purna, Sruti, Maliha and Alif commenced the program with a group dance functionality titled Prabhu Bandana. It had been directed by Saju Ahmed. Besides, they also performed a dance with raga Malkauns.
In solos, dancer Munmun Ahmed presented a dance recital titled Krishna Bandana, Baisakhi Majumdar presented a dance recital synchronised with Kathak Bandis, Ananna Wafi Rahman presented a Kathak Tarana and Monira Parvin Happy performed Thumri, among others. The next day of the festival highlighted solo and group dance recitals plus a seminar.
Dance experts Nigar Chowdhury, Sheikh Mehedi Hasan and other folks attended the seminar that was streamed on the Facebook webpage of Kathak Nritya Sampraday in morning hours.Besides, the troupe also streamed a live dance function on its Facebook page at evening where artistes from in the united states performed live dance performances. The concluding evening featured debate along with solo dance performances by artistes namely Nisha Jabiri, Munmun Ahmed, Munira Parvin Cheerful, Ananna Wafi Rahman, Oysha and others.
