They look down upon it, forgetting the fact that one of its four genres the Kathak dance had its osmosis in (Muslim) Central Asia. It is the culmination of a long process of trans-cultural pollination in the sub-continent during the 800-year Muslim rule, especially during the Mughal era.
History of the arts of primitive people tells us that men and women have always danced, individually, in duo or in large groups. They learnt many of their movements and patterns from birds and animals that were found aplenty in their environment. Anthropologists claim that their dance culture usually reflected life and environment in which the primitive people lived. Far from being only simple expressions of the desire to move, jump or to have fun, their dances dealt with the most basic and important facets of human life like birth, death, love and change of seasons.
In Hindu society, dance, religion and philosophy are lumped together in one group. Proper occasions for dancing are festivals, celebrations, religious processions, marriage and reunion of friends, birth of children and similar joyful and euphoric events. In the sub-continent, dances are divided into three main classifications: nyrt, rhythmic dancing without a story; nryta, dramatic dancing with a narrative or descriptive theme, and natya, acting.
A characteristic common to these dances is the use of gestures with related body postures and head movements. The use of fingers, hands and eyes is of first importance. Dance maestros claim that there are almost a thousand specific hand movements and signs, which are called mudras.
In Pakistan, dancers have always been few. Only a handful of individuals acquired the skill at professional level and used dances as a means for their creative expressions mainly through its Kathak variety.
They were Rafique Anwar, Feroze Aziz, Mehraj Ghulam Hussain and his pupil Bina Jawwad, Madam Azurie and her disciple Dr Faqir Hussain Saga, Indu Mitha and her daughter Tehrima, Sheema Kirmani, Nahid Siddiqui, and youthful Fasih ur Rehman and Adnan Jehangir.
Dance comprises a set of movements, emanating mostly from hands and legs that are performed to the accompaniment of specially composed melodies having strong rhythmic accent. That is why it is often called the art of rhythm and movements, which create enticing patterns of symmetrically balanced movements of different parts of human body.
Classical dance Kathak dance is not a Hindu dissipation. It is because of this deep-rooted prejudice that it has so far remained a neglected art form. There are no recognised institutions in the country for training dancers. Only a few individuals practised and trained aspirants at private tuition centres (located mostly in Karachi and Lahore) and truly competent dancers could be counted on the fingers of just one hand.
Adnan Jehangir, a graduate in graphic designs from National College of Arts (2004) and a professional photographer, while pursuing his studies continued learning dance from Bina Jawwad, a disciple of Mehraj Ghulam Hussain Kathak. Like other young aspirants he too had to brave the adversities emanating from a hostile environment, particularly in his family.
Within a few years young Adnan Jehangir, who also possesses abundant histrionic talent, made a mark on the cultural scene in Pakistan by participating in a number of programs, which provided him ample opportunities to demonstrate his passion for dancing.
He has also enacted different roles in more than 50 plays in Lahore and other towns during his association with Punjab Lok Rus (1996-1999) in its series of street theatre. Until recently, he claimed, there was very little interest in dance at my alma mater, but the situation changed when I floated the idea of setting up a dance society in NCA. Since then the Dance Society has presented several programs jointly with the Society of Classical Arts.
On September 18, 2004, he performed at Universal Studios in New York and three days later in another program titled Anarkali at the Hilton New York, which was an enriching combination of dance, drama and music. Adnan and other members of the cast choreographed the Anarkali Show to showcase the legendary love of the Mughal Prince Saleem for Anarkali through renditions of kathak dances. Among the audience, besides other dignitaries, was the President of Pakistan General Pervaiz Musharraf.
During the year 2005, Adnan made a number of demonstrations of his art at different forums, including International Urdu Conference held at NCA on March 11-12, Asif Jahs Haveli on April 15 and in the opening episode of the yearly Lux Style Show on October 3, 2005.
Recently he went to Italy on a tour under the a 'Smile Again' theme as a member of a troupe organised by Musarrat Misbah to represent Pakistan, where his dance performances enthralled Italian art lovers who much appreciated this aspect of Pakistani culture. Adnan's miniature painter wife Aisha Rahim, who accompanied him on the Italian tour, too got an opportunity to introduce her art there.