How Kumudini Lakhia stirred the dance world along with her pathbreaking method

Kumudini Lakhia
| Photograph Credit score: Courtesy: Kadamb

Once you checked out Kumudini Lakhia’s mild, modest and cheerful persona, you could possibly have hardly imagined she was a girl with immense interior power and a steely resolve. In spite of everything, she fought the patriarchal setup within the Kathak world in her personal quiet means, and inspired many younger women to pursue dance on their phrases. And this was about 60 years in the past, when the masters’ diktat couldn’t be defied. She designed a definite choreographic vocabulary to free the dance type of its restrictive repertoire and regressive narratives. Her works, with their up to date sensibility, drew the world’s consideration. Her greatest contribution to bop is reworking the traditional picture of a girl performer — from an unquestioning to a pondering artiste.

Kumudini Lakhia handed away on Saturday morning at her residence in Ahmedabad. She was 95. The funeral happened on Saturday afternoon. A prayer assembly can be held on April 15 (9 a.m.) at Sindhu Bhavan, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad.

Kumudini and Ram Gopal
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy: Kadamb

The celebrated artiste was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan on Republic Day this yr in recognition of her lifelong dedication to Kathak. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 1987 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010, together with a number of different prestigious honours.

From instructing in a small house in her husband’s vehicle store to beginning her faculty Kadamb in 1965,  Kumudini (Kumiben to her college students and admirers) was happier being a trainer than a performer. Throughout conversations, she devoted a lot of the time speaking about her college students and the way she doesn’t need them to merely replicate her concepts.

Says Rupanshi Kashyap, one in every of her senior college students, “Kadamb has been a house away from house. A hands-on guru, Kumiben was all the time out there for us. Her coaching methodology was distinctive, she needed us to develop a private equation with the artwork. She was delighted once we got here up with our inputs to her productions.”

Kumudini Lakhia’s college students performing one in every of her in style works ‘Atah Kim’ in New Delhi.
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy: Kadamb

Throughout an interview with The Hindu, Kumudini as soon as mentioned, “I hate slavish obedience. My college students ought to by no means hesitate to query — that’s the solely technique to make studying and instructing thrilling.”

Bengaluru-based dancer couple Nirupama and Rajendra, in a  Fb publish, highlighted how a trainer can depart a long-lasting affect on her college students. “Over the last week of February, we visited her. After we instructed her that her artwork, her legacy continues right here within the south by means of many children studying and performing her compositions, her approach, she held our palms tight and kissed. Her eyes have been moist. She proudly talked about these college students’ names who have been all doing good work in varied cities and completely different elements of the world. It was nice to see Kummiben brimming with satisfaction and she or he mentioned — “I don’t simply educate dance, I create dancers,” it learn. 

Pandit Birju Maharaj presenting the ‘Pandit Achhan Maharaj Kalajyoti Award’ to Kumudini Lakhia at Kamani Auditorium in New Delhi on March 10, 2008.
| Photograph Credit score:
S. Subramanium

Uncovered to the life and works of dancers forward of their time, Kumudini, regardless of her coaching in conventional Kathak, travelled to London to hitch the pioneering Ram Gopal, who put Indian dance on the worldwide tradition map. He launched her to a broader definition of dance — past the physique. “When touring with him I realised choreography is not only about well-conceptualised actions, it’s additionally about well-coordinated lighting, costume, make-up and music,” she had defined.

These associations and travels served as a catalyst in her fixed seek for new materials. Although as a soloist, Kumudini  blazed by means of the classical idiom with huge success. Her starvation for challenges led her to undertake an unconventional method and magnificence. She got here up with summary themes, which stood out for his or her ballet-like jumps and glides. The pared-down costume and equipment gave her group works a recent really feel whereas the music retained an Indian classical flavour.

Kumudini Lakhia was recognized for her distinct fashion
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy: Kadamb

“I did what I didn’t as a result of I needed to be referred to as an experimentalist or an innovator. If you end up continuously residing with the artwork, it begins to reflect your ideas and feelings. So I see myself in Kathak and my dance is what I’m,” she had mentioned.