Grace and Balance in Kathak: a workshop with Smt. Rani Karnaa

[Scroll down for participant responses and a link to a video]

What is Grace? What is Beauty?
Is it conventional or convincing tried and tested images that are considered graceful? Or is it that which is intuitively felt and personal that becomes graceful?
Smt. Rani Karnaa approaches these aesthetic questions through the many subtle movements that give Kathak a unique flavour. Beginning with deconstructing the strongly identifiable basic stance, the sessions will explore movements of the head, neck, eyes, wrists, torso, waist and more drawing from her own rich body of work, exploration and discovery along the way.


Dates: 7, 9, 11 July 2014
Time: 6pm to 9pm
Venue: the Ranan Workspace (Ground Floor, 8 Sultan Alam Road, Calcutta 700033)

Suitable for dancers, those with experience in movement performance, and any performers or performance associates interested in exploring and experiencing these concepts.

Fee: Rs. 750/-. Limited places!
Please send us an email of interest at rananindia@gmail.com. Places will be confirmed only on payment of the fee.

Padmashree and Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee, Smt Rani Karnaa is known to have enriched and integrated the great Kathak traditions of Jaipur and Lucknow Gharanas with an unusual sense of aesthetic adventure. Her creative repertoire finds expression in integrated compositions of Sahitya, Sangeet and Nritya, drawn from different cultural and literary treasures. Her work on the aesthetics of Kathak with Professor S. K. Saxena of Delhi University is now well recognized. Smt. Karnaa heads Samskritiki Shreyaskar – an academy of Kathak, and is also associated with the Sangeet and Nritya Sikshan Bharati of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Calcutta.

some excerpts from the workshop with Smt. Rani Karnaa

RESPONSES

“Rani Karnaa” …..hearing this name  the first thing that comes to my mind that is.. Grace is not a theology….It is not a subject matter. It can’t be taught…. It is a person, and she is Rani Karnaa…

I consider myself unlucky since I could attend only one day of the workshop but as well as lucky for the one day & it was like a dream come true. We learnt “Sri Guru Stotram ” & she corrected the each & every detail of the kabit “jatajuta”. The small demonstration of “jhula” & “Nao ki gaat” was a treat for the eyes. Watching her I was thinking that age is just a number for her…. How can one be so graceful at this age??? After that we tried to do the same things but in front of her we almost became numb. At the end she gifted us some beautiful “diyaas” …. So that it can enlighten our lives & mind. Thank you Ranan for this opportunity & expecting more such sessions.

- Debosmita Pal Roychoudhury

Ranan Repertory member

Smt. Rani Karnaa's message left on the Ranan wall

It was a life time experience. I was astonished by seeing the Nao ki Gat. I was glad to know about Smt. Rani Karnaa's biography. I got inner peace from that workshop. Those three days were very special to me.

- Anindita Santra

Ranan Repertory member

.