Anurekha Ghosh
Kathak Dance of Northern India

Anurekha Ghosh is one of the most brilliant traditional Indian dancers and choreographers of the new generation.

A pupil of Kathak dance masters Meera Majumdar and Mousumi Sen of Kolkata (Calcutta), Anurekha Ghosh is of Bengali origin as her name indicates. She has lived in Birmingham, England for several years.

There, she continues her training under the direction of the Pakistani dancer Nahid Siddiqui, one of the greatest stars of Kathak dance.

Always on the lookout for new art forms and cultural experiences, Ms Ghosh has also worked in the state of Kerala on the traditional martial art of southern India, Khalaripayyat, as well as singing Hindustani music with the well-known singer Jayita Pandey.

In 2001, she founded her own dance company, ‘Anurekha Ghosh and Company’ with whom she has created numerous performances both traditional and modern such as The Veil, Moments of Give, Rasika, Abhisarika, and From Ganga to Nile. In addition, the much appreciated Bonded Passions was co-produced with the Flamenco dance company ‘Alma Flamenca’ which blended both Kathak and Flamenco dance with great success.

Accompanied by the tabla player Partha Sarathi Mukherjee, Sarangui player Alla Rakkah and Jayita Pandey, the superb singer from Varanasi (Benares), Anurekha Ghosh takes the art of Khatak dance to the height of sophistication.

This style of dance was born in the Hindu temples and was initially dedicated to various divinities such as Vishnu as well as depicting episodes of the life of Krishna, the Ramayana etc. It gradually made its way into the courts of the Hindu Maharajas and the Muslim Nawabs of the 17th century. Bringing together the Muslim arts of the Mughal era and the ancient Hindu tradition whose roots are found in Vedic times, Kathak dance scintillates with its refinements of gesture and rhythm.

The dance comprises three distinct parts:

• Firstly the Vandana: a form of ritual dance that is a prayer offered to the gods;
• Secondly the Abhinaya: a storytelling, where highly significant gestures on the part of the dancer evoke a poem or song;
• And finally, a purely rhythmic section or dialogue between dancer and percussionist.

Over the last few years Ms Ghosh has appeared all over the world (in the USA, Europe, the United Kingdom and India) in such prestigious venues as the Royal Opera House and the Royal Festival Hall in London as well as at Madison Square Garden in New York.