THE NAVRASAS OF KATHAK: Pt Birju Maharaj goes through a gamut of emotions.

What strikes you as soon as you see Kathak's foremost exponent, Birju Maharaj, is his utter simplicity. He speaks softly and seems to be one with his inner rhythm -- reflected in his unconscious counting of time on his finger tips. His years as a dancer are also reflected on his face -- his expressions flit over a wide range of emotions when he talks about his life's guiding force -- Kathak.

A seventh generation Kathak dancer, Birju is conscious of his legacy and aware of his responsibility in passing on his craft. And though he has participated in several international dance festivals and national festivals, conducting workshops abroad and in major metropolitan cities in India, he is very excited about his workshop in Mumbai.

"The times have changed. These are the times of fast food and everything seems to be in top gear," says the maestro, with gentle humour. "When senior Kathak students come to learn in such a workshop, they are dead serious. There is also a level of maturity as they wish to grasp the subtleties."

But these subtleties often fester into major differences when it comes to the different gharanas in Kathak. The Jaipur and Lucknow schools are known to regard the other as inferior. Birju is surprisingly calm. He says, "I recently visited Jaipur and danced there. The Jaipur gharana people came for the performance and we got a very good response. I appreciated their specialities and they were surprised. I demonstrated the nazakat, delicacy and khubsoorati of the Lucknow gharana and also drew attention to the common elements of Kathak as a dance form. There were no bad vibes. Those days are gone when masters of each gharana used to fight."

And in an attempt to bring together various art forms, Birju has not restricted his talents to Kathak alone. He knows how to play more than 20 percussion instruments, he is an ace vocalist and composes music for dance-dramas and films. He is also a regular voice on All India Radio. He writes poems in Hindi and of late, has taken to painting water colours and sketching. "Since I have started painting, I realise there are so many points common between the two arts. Just study the Mughal and Rajput miniature paintings. The stances of the characters have many aspects common with Kathak. I have introduced profile, diagonal movements of hands, grace and beauty from these paintings in my exposition of Kathak. The moment you draw a line on a canvass you know what rhythm is. There is a Sanskrit saying that without studying dance, you will not know the secret of painting. The reverse is also true," says Birju.

Perhaps it is the wisdom that comes with time, or an almost intangible quality of a soothsayer, but Birju is confident that there will be no decline in the classical arts. "The classical arts have survived for many centuries. But with the advent of the electronic media, we will have use the media to our advantage. Maybe we should explain sometimes how our dance forms have greater depth, without making look like watered down versions of the original. "

And then the dancer blessed with divine grace shares his secret. "Often during my dance performance, I ask my two cousins, Krishna Mohan, Ram Mohan and my son, Jaikishan, to dance with me and we take up a time cycle while dancing takkar, the footwork. I explain how the Beatles use rhythm and how we can have one-upmanship. The younger generation loves our takkar, the friendly competition. I believe that the audiences love entertainment. So I introduce a dance composition of humour, in which through mnemonic syllables I tell a story of two friends, one a lazy bum and the other very active and full of beans. We have little of humour in our dance. We must explore it. Also I sometimes speak and explain, because in Kathak we have that convention. With someone so gifted like Zakir Hussain, we indulge in jugalbandi. He plays on the tabla some bols, I dance them out. Then I dance some complex patterns and he reproduces them on the tabla and then, we perform together leading audiences with us. While dancers should not stoop to please one and all, they should remember that their art has an entertainment element," he says.

Nehru Centre, in collaboration with Banyan Tree Events, has organised a week-long workshop for Kathak students by Birju Maharaj. Special sessions for experts will be held in the evenings. The workshops begin from May 23, 1997.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.