London Ragas: The Story and the Steps

Alokparna Guha dances Kathak at our London Ragas baithak this October, at Royal Wharf Community Dock in Silvertown. Debipriya Sircar sings, with live tabla.

Guha began Kathak at five with Sri Pradipta Neogi and later trained under Dr Malabika Mitra. She works across the Jaipur and Lucknow styles, and carries a Senior Diploma from Prayag Sangeet Siksha Samiti and a Gold Medal from Rabindra Bharati University. She founded PUSHPAK Academy of Dance, which teaches in Kolkata and Toronto under a Pracheen Kala Kendra affiliation, and has danced at the Uday Shankar Dance Festival and the Konark Dance Festival, as well as in London, Birmingham, Barcelona, and Toronto.

She splits the evening in two halves. First she gives two short lecture-demonstrations, one on where Kathak comes from and one on tabla, which she calls an indispensable part of the form. After the interval she opens with a vandana, then dances paramparagat Kathak Nritya across its range.

That order is the point. Most people who sit down to Kathak are watching something nobody has taught them to read, the feet keeping a time cycle and the face carrying a story. Here she tells you what to look for, then dances it. If you have been meaning to bring someone to this music and never known where to start, start here.

London Ragas is our monthly baithak: one room, 160 seats, and no stage set back from the audience. Sit close if you can.

If you are in London or nearby, do join us. If you have any access needs, contact KalaSudha.