Kathak dance  (see also dance and tabla classes)

Mehul Garg appears by kind arrangement of SAAA (Scottish Academy of Asian Arts) . 

From the age of 5 Mehul was attracted towards dance and spirituality. Mehul had to look no further than his mother Mrs. Uma Garg, a former Kathak dancer, as his source of inspiration.

From the age of 18, Mehul received four years professional training from Guru Shri Hosi Mulla. He has performed in Bombay and participated in numerous inter college festivals such as Malhar, Mood Indigo, Kaleidoscope and Brouhaha, achieving considerable recognition.

Kathak (which literally means ‘storyteller’) is a discipline designed for males and females. This North Indian dance was often performed in royal courts in India and is based around a straight-legged stance. This stance combined with the subtlety of torso movement gives optimum control over the rhythmic footwork and high-speed chakkars (pirouettes), which are its hallmark, whilst hand gestures and facial expressions are underplayed, with emphasis on subtle communication.

Kathak is one of the major classical dances of India. The word Kathak is derived from katha, meaning "the art of storytelling." It is also synonymous with the community of artists known as Kathakas whose hereditary profession it was to narrate history while entertaining. With dance, music and mime these storytellers of ancient India would bring to life the great scriptures and epics of classical times, especially the great Indian epics the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Puranas of Sanskrit literature. 

From its early form as a devotional expression dedicated to the Hindu gods, Kathak gradually moved out of the temples and into the courts of the rulers; the Hindu maharajas and the Muslim nawabs. Much later, during the mid-1800's, Kathak enjoyed a renaissance and gained prominence among the kings and zamindars. In the Hindu courts of the vast semi-desert of the principality of Rajasthan, Kathak developed in the Jaipur gharana (school), a regional style emphasising the technical mastery of pure dance. To the east in the court of Wajid Ali Shah, the last nawab of Oudh (and himself a student of Kathak), the dance emphasised dramatic and sensuous expression and developed into the style characteristic of the Lucknow Gharana. 

The Gharana is said to have originated with Wajid Ali Shah's court dancer Thakur Prasadji. The lineage of Kathak dance can be traced from generation to generation, father to son, guru to disciple. Thakur Prasadji's nephews, Binda Din Maharaj and Kalka Prasad, excelled in the study of Kathak. Binda Din's three nephews, Achhan, Lacchu and Shambhu Maharaj, helped carry the Kathak tradition into the 20th century. Achhan Maharaj, and upon his death, Shambhu Maharaj, had among his many disciples Ram Narayan Misra and Prohlad Das, respectively guru and father of Chitresh Das.

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