Conversing with Kathak – rhythm, movement, gesture

These workshops extrapolate from Vikram Iyengar’s decades of work with the kathak form and his ongoing research into the movement principles that define it. Divided into three major elements, the workshops will explore how kathak conceives of rhythmic structure, movement dynamics, and gesture. These workshops are designed for dancers and movement artists coming from contemporary dance practices, aiming to bridge the distance between how the dancing body, time and space are perceived in these two distinct styles.

Participants will explore cyclical time patterns that form the foundation of kathak, moving into the overlaying of rhythm both conceptually and technically through simple walking exercises, progressively complex footwork, and speaking of syllables. The workshops will touch on descriptive terminologies of movement – such as extensions, verticality, pirouettes, etc – and explore how differently kathak asks us to feel and mould them in our bodies. Participants will delve into the world of gesture, both as pure movement and as coded meaning, investigating the interplay between the two to see where they can intersect and where they diverge.

Drawing from techniques and principles familiar to contemporary dancers, the workshops will gradually transition into a less familiar domain of movement practice. The aim is to conceptually expand the notions of how movement and choreographic structures can be imagined, constructed and performed, regardless of one’ training background.

Vikram Iyengar is an arts leader and connector based in Calcutta, India, and working internationally. He is a dancer-choreographer-director, curator-presenter, and arts researcher-writer. Co-founder and artistic director of Ranan Performance Collective, he also initiated and leads the Pickle Factory Dance Foundation – a hub for dance and movement practice and discourse. His scope of work spans practice, discourse, critique, ideation and management, and revolves around the central tenet of creating deep connections with and through the arts.

Performance Work:
Trained in kathak by Padmashree Smt. Rani Karnaa, Vikram’s performance work is noted for the conscious bringing together of classical dance, movement, drama and design creating an experience of total theatre. His range of work spans choreography for stage and film, dance and theatre explorations, and performance collaborations. This diversity is linked by a fundamental and continuing engagement with the principles of the kathak form and the kathak informed body and mind, exploring and engaging in multiple dialogues to create fresh challenges within, and in relation to, the form.
Vikram’s international credits include choreographer for Academy Award winner Florian Gallenberger’s film, Shadows in Time and co-choreographer on Helena Waldmann’s Faust prize nominated piece Made in Bangladesh. Since 2013, he has worked regularly with Indian contemporary dancer-choreographer Preethi Athreya on solo and group projects.

Academics and Research:
An INLAKS scholar with an MA in Performing Arts from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Vikram has taught Asian and Intercultural Theatre at BA and MA levels in the UK. He regularly contributes articles and papers to various publications and international seminars, conducts a variety of workshops, and works on arts research projects for institutions in India and abroad. Empaneled with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and various other national bodies, he is a recipient of the Government of India National Scholarship and National Junior Fellowship for Dance. He was co-editor of the India Theatre Forum’s web theatre journal, e-Rang from 2009 to 2015. He has conducted guest lectures regularly at Jadavpur and Presidency Universities, Calcutta.

Awards and Affiliations:
An ARThink South Asia Arts Management Fellow, 2013-2014, Vikram is a Global Fellow of the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) 2017, 2019, and 2020, and a member of Creative Tracks, an international platform connecting arts entrepreneurs. He was one of the four Asia Pacific delegates in the Australia Arts Council’s International Arts Leaders Programme, 2017-2018. In December 2015, he was awarded the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the field of contemporary dance by the national Sangeet Natak Akademi. He is currently one of ten Global Connectors from across the world for IETM – the International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts.