Big Dance (1) - Kathak with Gauri Sharma Tripathi: 6th July 2008

London hosted a huge event called Big Dance from 5th to 13th July in order to feature dancers of various genres and inspire those who wanted to taste something exciting. Most of the showcases were free – Salsa, Ballroom Dancing, Argentine Tango, Jazz, Hip Hop, Flamenco… There were also dance workshops which would turn onlookers to participants.

I went to the Kathak workshop organised and taught by Gauri Sharma Tripathi, who is a resident artist of the Southbank Centre. I had tried a similar workshop when I was in Japan – I’m interested in this particular Indian classical dance as it is said to be a route of flamenco dancing.

We - some were sitting and watching, some were keen to try – were impressed by the teacher who was energetic, encouraging and maternal. I thought being a good teacher meant being a good public speaker as well as entertainer. She introduced us to the world of Kathak by a series of movements celebrating the nature: raindrops from the sky joining a river, water immersing into the motherly land, the earth growing trees, the branches swinging by winds… It was accompanied by indigenous music as well. We felt something spiritual. As a dance, it was difficult, though!

She also let us try stamping, which could be the origin of flamenco zapateado. The choreography became complicated and faster, but we all enjoyed the dazzling experience. The workshop was concluded by her students’ demonstration, in which an English-looking girl was the most impressing.

I went to the event because of my interest in flamenco, and I was even thinking to start taking a course. But after the workshop, which was more than enjoyable, I felt I shouldn’t enter this deep, spiritual and holy world of Kathak for such a shallow reason that I want to deepen my knowledge of flamenco. Kathak is like an innermost sanctum itself. If you want to learn it, you have to respect Kathak itself rather than making a use of it for any other form of art. I hope to have this kind of workshop again and again, though!

Personal Colour Analysis

My friend asked me and our common friends to spare some time for her preparing for the exam to become a qualified 'personal colour analyst'. Do you know what it means? It's an analysis to find out which colour group suits you the best. It's not simply red or blue or green. There are different tints of red, blue, green and so on, and each tint is divided into 4 groups; spring, summer, autumn and winter. Spring and autumn colours are yellowish group of colours: for example, spring pink is not pastel but shocking pink, autumn green is not peppermint but olive green. The purpose for this analysis is to know which colour group helps you to look more attractive, healthy and younger, and which ones make you look tired, sick or older, so you can apply this theory to your daily fashion. My friend would like to be a specialist for such a sort of thing.

The test itself is on a one-to-one basis. At first, you will be told which colour group, yellowish or non-yellowish, you belong to, according to your basic skin colour, the hue of your eyes and hair. Then, you will see which colour group within the category of yellowish or non-yellowish suit you better. For this, the analyst will put pieces of fabric of different colours on your chest and see how each of them matches your face.

The girl who had a go first was told to be 'yellowish', and the would-be colour analyst checked which suited her better, spring or autumn colours. She was obviously an 'autumn' person, as it was clear enough even for us amateurs.

Now, my turn. I was told to have a rosy complexion, so I wasn't 'yellowish', meaning I would belong to either summer or winter. But when she was checking summer and winter colours on me, she seemed confused. She said that both of them looked fine on me, so she couldn't decide if I was summer or winter. As getting confused, she also tried to put spring and autumn colours on me to find out if the first decision was wrong. She and the others agreed that neither of them looked wrong on me, but perhaps 'non-yellowish' would slightly be better. So, we went back to the starting point, and compare the summer and winter again… then confused again.

Actually, before we started it, I asked her if the test result would stay the same throughout your entire life. According to her, it would basically be the same, and the only exception would be when you got very old, like twenty becoming eighty. But for my test result, she said, 'Well, I would say summer for this time, but please, please let me try again sometime later!' So, my result might be revised soon? But it was fun anyway, and I’m happy to have known that I could basically wear any colours.

Indian Dances Workshop

To improve my flamenco dancing skills, I went to an Indian Dances Workshop today. You might wonder why Indian dances have anything to do with flamenco, but it's said that Kathak dance from North Idia is the route of flamenco dance. The workshop included not only Kathak but also Odissi and Mohiniyattam - and I liked Odissi the best! It's a very sensual, elegant and expressive dance. I enjoyed the other two as well, and actually found Kathak had some similarities to flamenco, especially its complicated footwork, but if I have a chance to take up a class, I'd like to go for Odissi.

All three were so difficult for me, as most of the movements were completely new to me. I even felt flamenco was much easier, although I'm far from perfect in flamenco. But it was fun! The teachers were also very nice and funny. We did not only have a go at simple choreographies but also did learn some facial expressions as an important factor in the dances. That's what I need to work hard on actually - I'm always said that my poor facial expression spoils the whole impression of my flamenco dance... I don't know if I will take a class of any Indian dance, but I'm happy to have broaden a little of my dancing experience!