LINK: Watch a preview of "India Jazz Suites"
The Northern Indian classical dance of Kathak has elements of many styles from around the world -- the graceful athletic leaps and pivots of ballet, the percussive foot rhythms of tap, the hummingbird speed found in flamenco.
The Indian form is far more ancient, and far more complicated than any of those, as well. In addition to dance that focuses on rhythms and light-speed footwork, the dancer tells stories of kings and queens, gods and goddesses.
Pandit Chitresh Das, one of the world's leading practitioners of Kathak, lives, dances and teaches in Marin County, Calif. He was among the first to bring the style to the United States in the 1970s.
Now 65, Chitresh Das has built the dance company that bears his name and the Chhandam School of Kathak into a force to be reckoned with on the American stage and beyond.
But even though the interpretive dance of Kathak is called classical, Chitresh Das makes certain that this art form he and his parents have devoted their life to is no museum piece. As an example, his program "India Jazz Suites" fuses Kathak with high-energy American tap dance. In this program, Chitresh Das joins forces with Jason Samuels Smith, the 29-year-old Emmy-winning dance sensation who took the tap world by storm with his appearance in "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk."
Chitresh Das and Smith bring their unique fusion of jazz and tap, Indian classical and Kathak to Peery's Egyptian Theater on Saturday in an event made possible in part by RAMP funding.
"I have never been to Utah," said Chitresh Das, calling from his Marin County offices. "I feel very fortunate to finally come there. I love history, and the history of Utah fascinates me -- the Mormon pioneers and how it came to be. I cannot wait to see it for myself."
The next big thing
Chitresh Das and Smith met at the American Dance Festival in 2005. That year's program had been dubbed "Festival of the Feet."
ADF Organizer Charles Reinhart contacted several people in India, seeking an expert Kathak troupe for his festival. His queries in India led him back to California and Chitresh Das. Smith, as it so happened, was also a featured artist at the festival.
"(Avant-garde tap dancer) Roxane Butterfly had invited Jason to the festival," said Chitresh Das. "My wife Celine got wind of this and was very excited. She told me that Gregory Hines has called Jason the next big thing. So I was curious, and very impressed. So what happened was, Jason was practicing in the hallway, and I sort of introduced myself by coming up to him and starting to make sounds with my bare feet, to get his attention."
The pounding of Chitresh Das' bare feet grabbed Smith's imagination immediately.
"He didn't approach me directly, but kept telling one of my company members, 'I want to dance with your guru.' And then, on the finale, she told Jason, 'The time is right! Jump in now!' He did, and well, that was it."
Soon after, Chitresh Das' wife put together the program for the duo, dubbed "India Jazz Suites," presenting it first in San Francisco. They took it to India and to performing art houses all over the United States. The program was chosen that year by the San Francisco Chronicle as the No. 1 dance performance, and it also won the prestigious Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Best Ensemble Performance of the year.
Tapping and jingling
For the tap portions of the show, Smith brings along a classic jazz trio -- bassist David Ewell, Theo Hill on piano, and Sameer Gupta, a first-generation Indian jazz drummer.
Chitresh Das brings members from his school's dance troupe, as well as a standard Northern Indian classical combo: Debasish Sarkar on vocals, Abhijit Banjerjee on tabla and Jayanta Banjerjee on sitar.
Tap is more about rhythm and style, whereas Kathak tells complete, plotted tales through movement, character rhythms and, of course, dance. The tap dancer uses the tool of the tap shoe to add his own percussive instrumentation to the piece -- he is, in a sense, drumming along to the music, or even creating his own music as a soloist.
In Kathak, five pounds of bells are strapped between ankle and knees on each leg. The dancer's movement makes them ring, adding their own percussive elements to the music.
"Kathak is a very old form, but the modern version dates to around 400 or 500 years," said Chitresh Das. "Kathak's name comes from a word ... that means 'to tell stories.' We were originally like Western minstrels and bards -- like Homer, and 'The Iliad' and 'Odyssey,' or like the minstrels in medieval times. We often tell stories from mythology. So it is much like similar traditions around the world."
In this show, the two dancers from their separate traditions demonstrate their own art form, and then come together in a new form, said Chitresh Das.
"Jason dances a cappella first, and then dances with the jazz combo," said Chitresh Das. "Then I dance solo, and Indian classical. The second half starts with him rapping while I play tabla. Then we dance together, and he dances with the tabla player. We do a lot of improvisation as well.
Chitresh Das said that dancing with Smith inspires him, and he believes the inspiration runs the other way as well. Chitresh Das said he has no plans to retire.
"Jason's mother says sometimes that there is such an energy between us -- it is like he is a young me," Chitresh Das said. "Like I do, he reads a lot, and is very curious and open to new things. He has been to India five or six times, now, and in turn, he takes me to jazz festivals. I believe if I can dance with the same speed and agility as Jason, I will be setting an example for a younger generation.
"I hope young dancers will see us and say, 'Look at him, dancing at his age like that, keeping up with that young tap dancer. If he can do that, I must work hard to try and do that, too.' "
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