“While on a private, multi-city concert tour to Europe, I was invited to this festival and performed a solo Kathak dance,” says Deshpande, who performed on the inaugural day. Amidst the robust rhythms of tap dance, belly dance, ballet, flamenco and Old Greek folk dances, to name a few of the dance forms that were showcased, Kathak—all the way from the Indian sub-continent—stood out for its grace. The focus was on choreographed compositions without compromising on the traditional aspects of Kathak,” says Deshpande.

“Teentaal received a spontaneous response as rhythm is a universal concept in dance,” she elaborates further.

She even had international professional dancers attending her workshop on Kathak. “It was a great challenge to introduce and simplify Kathak in the stipulated hour-long period that was given to me. So I concentrated on some basic footwork, tihaai, body movements and use of cycle beats in Kathak. And I’m glad my audience picked up these nuances brilliantly,” she says.“I explained the aesthetics and elements of Kathak based on time, space and energy. While rhythm is a universal concept, the rhythm cycle or taal is an entirely Indian classical concept,” she says. In fact, after her performance, Deshpande was flooded with eager queries on the style. “Many dancers told me that they knew Indian dance styles were different, but could never appreciate them because they didn’t know the details,” she reveals.

Paper presentations on dance were another aspect of the event. And, Deshpande’s show along with Odissi danseuse, Sujata Mohapatra—held a few months back in Pune and Bangalore, that lauded the Ajanta and Ellora cave—-came in handy. “We’d presented Kathak and Odissi together to promote the world heritage site of Ajanta and Ellora caves. It was a tribute to the exceptional craftsmanship of people who built those magnificent caves,” she says.

Making a paper presentation on the same, Deshpande put across an important message. “I tried to explain the responsibility of artistes to use their art to generate social awareness,” she says.