अदा के परे अदाकार

 अदा के परे अदाकार - I had the opportunity of watching this fabulously conceived dance show, based on Bollywood songs based on Kathak. The concept itself is very appealing. Songs were 'grouped by' Bollywood actresses, namely Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Hema Malini, Rekha, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhat (did I miss anyone?). 'For each' actress, a handful song/dance sequences were chosen and presented on stage, sprinkled with a few relevant dialogs from the respective movies. This idea of dialogs was very wise, actually, since it provided some context as well. Songs were sequenced seamless. Notable ones were Basanti-Veeru and Gangubai.

Now let's talk about performances. There were four groups of dancers, each group performing one sequence (of course with some overlaps). This idea was really a well-thought one, because it helped keep any given sequence cohesive. 

Given that I know nothing about Kathak dance itself, I could very well see the energy, rhythm, grace and sense of performing together with other dancers. Even as a layman, I can tell that, stage performance is a balanced act. A dancer has to maintain the right balance of grace, delicateness and energy. For example, a song like इन आँखोकी मस्ती के. Such a dance should be very graceful and delicate. It cannot be (rather, should not be) very energetic, like मेरे हाथोमे नौ नौ चुडियां.  Happy to say that all the dancers had carefully maintained that balance. Oh, and speaking of energy, the energy of the Pinga dance was very high.

As for choreography - given that the stage was relatively small for the given number of dancers, the dances were very well choreographed. The movements - horizontal as well as front-back - were carefully chosen. 

The costumes were gorgeous. And the speed with the dancers were changing the costumes - I simply couldn't believe my eyes.

Supporting cast, including the emcee were notable.

Overall it was a very enjoyable show. I congratulate all the dancers, leads and gurus.