Kathak Troupe Presents Tales of Classic Indian Splendor

Country music has the Judds; opera has Montserrats Caballe and Marti; and kathak, a classical dance form of northern India, has, in the Southland, the Ambegaokars--Anjani and Amrapali--a mother-daughter team that is helping to keep the elegant Moghul court dance alive and well. Anjani’s Kathak Dance of India, made up of the Ambegaokars and four other dancers, presented a hyper-exuberant show of song, dance and music Saturday at El Camino College.

Kathak, a storytelling idiom that features quicksilver bare footwork, dazzling pirouettes, exquisitely detailed hand movements and theatrical facial expressions, is performed to complex rhythms. To assure that the program would be obstacle-free, the show began with “Ganesh Vandana,” an invocation seeking blessings, in which five women of the company moved as one.

In the solo premiere “Durga Nritya,” Amrapali proved fleet of foot, exhibiting a dramatic flair that moved from wide-eyed shyness to fierce pride, while her mother, Anjani, slapped time on her thigh alongside the rich tabla playing of Abhiman Kaushal and the crystalline singing of Mala Ganguly.

Not to be outdone, Anjani blazed through a solo praising Krishna, executing speedy barefoot slaps as floor microphones amplified the tiny bells circling her ankles.

In 10 dances in all, the troupe, in colorful silk costumes, negotiated difficult beats effortlessly, sometimes improvising and vamping, creating a wall of sound with their stamping feet and a vision of startling grace with their arms and often sublime expressions.

Anjani is not only a commanding dancer but a fine teacher as well, as her company--who, no doubt, could have “kathaked” all night--showed.