InSyncKathak's performance "Prakriti - An Ode to Mother Nature" at SFIAF 2025

In late 2024, at InSyncKathak Dance School's annual holiday party, our esteemed Guru, Anupama Srivastava, informed us all to block our calendars for Mother's Day 2025.

- MANASI MADIWALE

The InSyncKathak dancers, along with Guru Anupama Srivastava, were going to be performing at the highly prestigious San Franscisco International Arts Festival (SFIAF).

Kathak is an ancient Indian classical dance form renowned for its intricate foot-work, spins (chakkars) but above all, its vivid story-telling. I went to the SFIAF performance, with starry eyes and hopes of an enchanted Mother's Day afternoon. Little did I know that I was in for a real treat.

The SFIAF performance was choreographed by Anupama Ji, who is a distinguished disciple of Padmashri Guru Shovana Narayan. It was aptly titled Prakriti, and delved into the intricate relationship between the human world and Mother Nature. It was an ode to Guru Shovana Narayan Ji's 75th birth year, and featured some of her classic choreographies, albeit with a modern-day California outlook.

The performance started with an ode to Mother Nature, titled Dhwani-Pratidhwani (Sound-Echo). True to its name, the dancers' footwork echoed through the auditorium, precise and timed accurately, following the rhythm of the percussion down to the microsecond. The footwork was the real star of this dance, a pure Nritta piece.