Sri Birju Maharaj IMPROVISATION

A clip showing the master of Kathak at Delhi's Kathak Kendra before he was ousted out due to age restrictions on teaching there. It comes from a much larger set of programmes from UK tv on improvisation in music & dance. Absolutely brilliant artist!!!

[@charan003]

the subtitles said 'different moves' but Bhirju Maharaj said 'different moods', conveys a different meaning

[@aparnaaggarwal3701]

so overwhelming to see this rarity. Thanks a ton for posting

[@shaileshbudhdeo3142]

Pranam Parm Pujy Maharaj Ji Ko Naman

[@sanatansinha4314]

Very lovely techniques of teaching and learning of various moods , not 'mooves' as defined by the interpretor.

[@mowaiskhan8672]

Kathak people are truly innocent... Please give them love and respect....

[@ImmortalMatriarch]

This is amazing and beautiful. Pandit Birju Maharaj is a blessing! And- that is definitely Smt. Saswati Sen... she looks wonderful here. What year was this recorded? Many Blessings! ~Lalitha

[@cherrytree2891]

this must be quite an old video. because that is a really young shashwati sen sitting next to maharajji!! thanks for posting all the amazing clips....

[@milindkumar865]

great maharaj ji

[@tripmonk0]

It was part of a longer BBC series on Improvisation in music & dance, sometime in the mid 90s, I recall. Nick

[@SourabhGoho]

great...

[@nilabja_das]

Wow!

[@harshtamtakathak1605]

🙏❤️

[@tripmonk0]

@pri22v11 I had a year's learning in Lucknow style in London many years ago. My teacher was Srimati Alpana Sengupta. I had to stop as I couldn't afford the term's fees, I wasn't working then. Nick

[@tripmonk0]

@kab132 Hi It very often is, it seems, in 'official' sectors anyway. Gurus generally keep on teaching until they drop dead. Nick

[@seetalg123]

is that Saswati Sen in the green sari?! wow...

[@tripmonk0]

@pri22v11 I went on, in the 90s, to learn Bharatanatyam from an English lady called Sheila Cove or Shakunthala as her guruji, Balasundari from Sri Lanka, named here. It's Kalakshetra style from the 1950/60s we learned when Smt Rukmini Devi was still in charge. There IS a clip of us in the practice studio on here. Nick

[@keeelane]

can you please tell me the name of this program & episode. thanks.

[@kab132]

Is "ousted due to age restrictions" the official story?

[@parthsarthi4564]

I think its too much exaggerated...he had completed his retirement age ...its a government job it has a specific age to retire ...

[@shiva4ever]

The commentary could be more accurate. It INSISTS that this is refined from folk dances by Pandit Birju Maharaj. This is completely inaccurate as Kathak was already a highly refined and stylistically mature classical dance form thousands of years ago! Of course, everything must have had its origins in tribal and folk forms, but Kathak had already become a classical dance for temples way back in history. Its last big recharging was done by Navab Wajid Ali Shah in the 18th century. Since then, it has been in the family of Pandit Birju Maharaj who himself has played a KEY role in reviving it post independence and popularising it by making it once again dynamic and relevant for the times today.

[@tripmonk0]

+shiva4ever Sorry bhaiya but kathak wasn't around thousands of years ago & there's no proof to say it was.

[@shiva4ever]

Really? Then where did all the references to dance dramas come from in all the literature of North India? How did the sculptors and painters portray all those dancers on temples and palaces? People make the mistake of thinking that Kathak is what the Mughals created with its typical costumes etc. They forget that Mughals merely gave their own interpretation to Kathak which had been around in various forms and evolutions all along. The Natya Shastra does not describe any dance form by name, there is NO specific dance form mentioned by name in the entire natya shastra by Bharat. Did you know that? Each region adapted the basic Katha-vachak its own particular style and preferences. Dance, as a form of story telling, has been around since as long as mankind. You can see it even in the 'dancing girl' of Harappa and Mohenjodaro. I hope you understand this now.

[@tripmonk0]

+shiva4ever Bhaiya I NOT saying dancing wasn't around but, as in the Natya Shastra, it was all just dancing !!! There were no styles as such. You're indeed correct saying the Mughals & ALL others before & SINCE have put their slant on it & the various forms. Best Nick

[@shiva4ever]

Yaar, what you have said is merely about terminology. Terms have changed all throughout, but the dance was always there. If Kathak means a dance that tells a story, then it has been there in India since time immemorial and has been written about, depicted in all ways whether literature, sculpture, painting, music etc. Anyway, all the best to you too.

[@tripmonk0]

Totally agree, bhaiya although the music MUST have been developing all the time because sitars & tablas etc were not around even a thousand years ago. Both are far more recent innovations in the form they are now.

[@nafisanasir1801]

Another beautiful thumri by pandit Birju Maharaj ji kzbin.info/www/bejne/lX3anq2Vprlph7s

[@pri22v11]

Kathak dude not katak!!! pronounce its correctly dude! Also tripmonk you are so knowledgeable on kathak do you dance? :)

[@tripmonk0]

Pretty sure it's not as Smt Saswati Sen is much older than this girl. Nick

[@hirak123456]

It is Saswati ,

[@bijalmalavia393]

It is Saswati ji no doubt.

[@LittleMissCheivious]

The narrator pronounces kathak "catak."LOL:)