| Folk Arts - Master Artist - Urmila Nagar
Urmila Nagar, born in Rajasthan, India, is a renowned Kathak dancer and vocalist. Kathak, meaning "story," is a form of Indian classical dance which combines storytelling, intricate footwork and elaborate facial expressions. The three schools of Kathak are named for their cities of origin, Lucknow, Beneras, and Jaipur. Nagar studied Jaipur Kathak with masters Sunder Prasad and Kundan Lal Gangani and as an established, expert dancer, Nagar began to teach her own pupils. Prabha Rustagi, one of Nagar’s earliest students, eventually taught Nagar’s techniques to her own students.
When Prabha Rustagi passed away in December of 1994, her students were left without a master to teach Jaipur Kathak. Despite the loss of Rustagi, her pupils continued to dance. Shantha Benegal, a musician who accompanied performances for the late Prabha Rustagi, applied for a Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant on Nagar’s behalf in 1996. The Apprenticeship grant allowed Nagar to teach Jaipur Kathak to Rustagi’s pupils: Pamela Arora, Sonia Bhatia, Maisha Chainani, Sujot Chawla, Mesha DeYoung, Pronoti Hiremath, Sharmila Kotelawala, Tina Kochlar, Shefali Pace, Tisha Rekhi, Devki Saraiya, Dyuti Sengupta, Leah Martin, and Tara Warming. Nagar also taught Kathak songs to Shantha Benegal. Rustagi’s former students inspired the Seattle-area Indian community with their performances and, with Nagar’s help, they preserve Rustagi’s memory and an ancient art form.
The recipient of Apprenticeship grants in 1997-2000, Nagar continued to work with the same students and to teach Shantha Benegal vocal parts for Kathak music. Nagar focused on teaching a more complex repertoire to include pavans, tukdas, primalus, taranas, and sargams. Her pupils have learned rhythmic recitation and improvisation techniques. They also expanded their skills in expressive dance and improved their speed and stamina, presenting seamlessly flowing dance.
As a recipient of a 2007 Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant, Nagar taught apprentices Deepa Liegel, Carina Riordan, and Nia Bartolucci. With these apprentices, Nagar imparted traditional dance training in Jaipur Gharana. They performed in a dance presentation at the Northwest Puppet Center in October 2007 and also in the Prabha Rustagi Memorial Trust Kathak Intensive student concert.
This year, the recipient of an Apprenticeship grant in 2008, Nagar will teach Kathak to Nia Bartolucci, Emily Carlson, Alexandra Gobeille, Mukti Godbole, Deepa Liegel, Amanda Turner, and Parkaui Turner. These students, who have all worked with Nagar for at least five years, will learn new dance compositions and continue to refine footwork, hand movements, facial expressions, and other techniques associated with Kathak. They will showcase their skills at the Ethnic Cultural Theater in the 13th Annual Student Concert of the Leela Kathak Dancers (for the Prabha Rustagi Memorial Trust) in October 2008.
Nagar was again awarded an Apprenticeship grant award in 2009. During the apprenticeship, she plans on teaching eleven returning students and six new students, with the topic of the this year’s Kathak dance being “Monsoon”. She will be teaching these students songs, traditional poems, or kavits, and raindrop footwork. Their planned public events include a fourteenth annual student concert. | |||
