Bharatanatyam Recital by Dimple Kaur

Last month, I went to attend a classical dance concert in Epicentre–really the center of cultural activities in Gurgaon, Haryana. For the last two weeks, I could not attend any program due to hectic work load and some other things that usually keep rocking your life, so I was really looking forward to a good experience in this concert. Straightaway, I would admit that I was not disappointed. The performance was pointedly refined in a theme that evoked spiritual feelings.  The music was nicely synchronized and of course the choreography was done aesthetically.

I was accompanied by one of my friends and we enjoyed a lot–though the crowd was not stuffing but still there was no dearth of applause whenever a piece ended. The audience was enjoyed the presentation.

A very strikingly noticeable point about the concert was that Dimple Kaur seemed to be pretty comfortable in adapting to the demands of a classical dance that originated primarily in South India. This is not much prevalent in families that have North Indian background and more so a Punjabi background. However, overcoming the barriers of spiritual-faith and upbringing, she delivered a nice performance that can be expected from an Indian dancer who has love for dance and art–nothing to do with who-and-what of the individual.

Dimple Kaur had been practicing classical dance for like 18 years and she has been performing this art for healing through dance. This is a unique combination where spiritual aspect of the art form has been highlighted in a sense that it evokes therapeutic results.

Among the accompanists, Mridangam was particularly noticeable…this artist played so well on Mridangam that our hearts literally danced with its beats. He matched his time-cycle beautifully with the steps of the dancer and played the instrument with dexterity of tempo and styles–we noticed how he picked beats of North Indian instruments like Dholaki, Naal and Tabla.

The main theme of the concert was based on Shiva–there were various aspects of love and devotion to Shiva that Dimple Kaur portrayed with her delicate movements fitted in rhythmic cycles of music–flute, Mridangam and Violin.

At the end of the concert, we met the artist and came to know about her background. I clicked some photographs of the artists that I am sharing here.