Introduction: A senior kathak Dancer and Guru Shri. Subhashchandra Bhattacharya gave a visit to our class. He was welcomed by President of Layshala Lalit Kala Samiti and our beloved Guru Mrs. Astha Tai Karlekar by giving a rose & gift as a token of love and respect for him. Senior students of Astha tai presented few compositions which they have learned so far, including the Tukdas and Gat s . This was followed by an interactive session with students where questions / doubts were asked to Hon.Subhash Ji.

Interactive Session: During the session, one of the question asked by a student was thatbeing a man, it is easy to perform a role of Krishna in u, but generally the role of ‘Radha’ is performed even when the dancer himself is a man, why is it so? This question was answered by Subhash Ji very gracefully. The answer he gave was – “To perform any art, you need expressions, you need to express yourself when you are performing an art, specifically dance. In every u of Lord Krishna & Radha has to express more. There is a scope to express yourself in this character. So Radha is performed.” Amazing !! This answer proved to be very guiding to all the students. He shared various interesting stories & experiences of his journey till now.
Students understood from the conversation that the original dance form is becoming rare day by day…and they are lucky to be a part of it. He mentioned that various Western dance styles are influencing the Indian classical form which is not a very good result. He also mentioned that the capacity of this generation of grasping the dance form is less compared to the previous ones. Further he told that it not a fault of the generation but the lifestyle nowadays. Due to the increasing influence of Western style on Indian one, it is necessary today to spread awareness about the classical form and the authentic “Guru – shishya” tradition.

Performance: The most memorable part was when he performed ‘u’ on a poetry written by Hon. Pandit Lacchu Maharaj ji, ‘Baji’. It is a wordplay of using same word in different meaning. In the poetry the word ‘Baji’ represents ‘Friend’, ‘Elder sister’ and playing tune or the sound produced by an instrument.

 Au revoir: This session proved to be a “torch in the dark” for students. This session could be summarized in one line – “Wise guidance never violates a man’s free will” And the session ended with a contended response of students towards him.