The Place, London
November 16, 2024
Aunusthan is a scintillating evening of classical kathak dance. Colourful, musical, graceful, and supremely energetic, the seven dancers filled the stage with terrific virtuoso performances.
Pagrav Dance Company was formed by Urja Desai Thakore in 2005, it’s stated aim being to fuse kathak’s classicism with contemporary storytelling and design. The dancers wear ankle bells, which form an integral part of the music, itself played live and expertly provided by Gurdain Sing Rayatt, Hiren Chate, Kaviraj Singh, and Satwinder Pal Singh.
The performance was presented without any stage design. Not that it mattered as dancers Ishira Shah, Meera Patel, Parbati Chaudhury, Vishesh Mehta, Thakore herself, and guest performer Dheerendra Tiwari filled the entire space, even when dancing solo. Chris Copland’s lighting does what it needs too, adding little to the show, but not detracting either. The costumes, designed by Thakore and Abha Desai, on the other hand are sumptuous, the material moving with the performers, enhancing the swirling and twirling to a giddying degree.
Photo Simon Richardson
Kathak is a form of storytelling through movement, especially footwork and facial expression, Aunusthan taking the audience through a number of abstracted relationships and tales. Unfortunately, there was no explanation given of the stories that the dancers were telling. For those not familiar with the intricacies of kathak, that’s a shame. As impressive technically as it all was, without understanding what was going on, inevitably an hour’s non-stop performance began to pall.
Towards the end, it also seemed that some of the young dancers were visibly tiring. Maybe the evening would have worked better in two halves.
But, overall, an impressive evening from an impressive company. Aunusthan means ‘celebration’ and the show is certainly that. Thakore, already an award-winning choreographer, is committed to nurturing the next generation of kathak dancers. If this performance is anything to go by, she is achieving her aim in spectacular fashion.