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The three-day Thirak Festival of Dance organised by Jaipur Gharana Kathaka Manisha Gulyani recently was much appreciated for being the first-of-its-kind focussing on the gharana while bringing in several stalwarts to share their experiences.
Among those who attended was Kathaka Uma Sharma, well known for her stellar performances and reviving the Natwari Nritya or the Raslila of Vrindavan. She shared her gathered experiences in her journey of dance with the assembled connoisseurs, gurus and students.
Coming from a conservative background of a family of Brahmins and deeply rooted in academics, the idea of making dance a career for Uma Sharma was altogether an alien idea. Talking of her childhood, she said, “My roots are in Dholpur but I became a Dilliwali, because my parents shifted to New Delhi. My father was a Sanskrit scholar, who composed lyrics in the Sanskrit language and spoke in that language. He was fond of music as well. So I first took to singing and I imitated Lata Mangeshkar a lot. Somewhere in the core of my heart, I wished to dance. Whenever I...