Hear Dr. Vibha Dadheech @ Ashirvachan

Kathak dancer and founder of Naad Bhed, Archana Misra is hosting Central Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee to enlighten the young Kathak dancers and enthusiasts on Natyashastra and Kathak Shastra at the Naad Bhed Dance Studio, East Mareedpally. Archana, who started learning Kathak at the age of 26 years in 2009, after mastering the art, started her own dance school in 2016, and is lightning up the stage across the city. Archana, who has learnt under various Gurus in Orissa, Bangalore and Hyderabad, Jhuma Mukherjee, Nirupama & Rajendra, Mridula Rao, Anju Babu and Sanjay Kumar Joshi. Impressed by the teachings of Dr Vibha Dadheech at the workshops she attended, Archana is the brain behind the workshop.

Speaking to Natyahasini, Archana says that she is holding an hour-long interaction, Ashirvachan, on Saturday, 8 July, 2023, with Dr. Vibha Dadheech, Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee and co-founder of Natavari Kathak Nritya Academy.  “Interested Kathak disciples and Gurus may take this opportunity to meet the legendary guru and learn from her,” she says.

According to Archana, “Natavari Kathak Nritya Academy is working towards spreading the right kind of Kathak knowledge to the students of all age category across the world through physical and digital mode. Natavari under the mentorship of its founders has been instrumental in reviving many ancient traditions of kathak dance and also in bringing to light many unexplored and new Shastra Granths.” She further adds that Natavari plays a major role in reviving ancient traditions in Kathak Dance based on a thorough and in-depth research of the various granths available in time and history. “Reconstructing of ancient dance movements of kathak dance to revive the lost traditional repertoire of Kathak dance. Reviving the old tradition of ‘katha-kathan’ in Kathak to narrate epics and other stories and anecdotes,” she states.

The Naad Bhed founder giving insight into Dr. Vibha Dadheech’s dance performances states that they showcase art from both Jaipur and Lucknow gharanas. “Specialities of her dance includes performing the most difficult layakaris with ease in the form of todas, tukdas, parans, paramelus and tatkar, mesmerizing display of ‘Bhav’ in gatnikas, Thumri, Bhajans, etc. While elegant movements, vivid expression of emotions, easy, intelligible and spectacular use of ‘Aprachalit Taals’ and bandishes are some specialities of her traditional dance, Dr. Vibha Dadheech is an experimental artist in the boundaries of the tradition of the art. Her dance creations based on poetic verses in Sanskrit and Hindi gathered her utmost fame,” the Hyderabadi artist says. 

Dr. Vibha Dadheech had been associated with Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya as a Reader – Kathak and currently the director of Natvari Kathak Nritya Academy, Indore, where in the last 30 years she has not only trained many students and researchers, but is also managing and collecting a huge dance library along with her Guru and husband, Dr. Puru Dadheech. “Natwari currently has seven branches across the country in Maharashtra, Gujrat and Telangana running a new ideal course designed by Dr. Vibha Dadheech. She is also working towards bringing shastras and research to the Kathak students by joining hands with other institutes and conducting various courses on Natya Shastra in reference to Kathak and more recently a course on Kathak Shastra,” adds the Hyderabadi dancer.