ISLAMABAD: It was a night filled with music and dance with volunteers demonstrating the joy, sentiments and cultural bindings in the forms of classical and contemporary performances.

And the audience discovered the nuances of each style during the Bharatnatyam, Kathak and contemporary performances at the National Art Gallery on Friday night. Sadly, however, the unenthusiastic compering did not do justice to the night that celebrated the dance forms of the region.

Background classical music provided the rhythm for the dancers in ornate and beautiful costumes. The event, ‘Raqs revival’ started with Sur taal presented by the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) troupe using the elements of classical dances of the subcontinent, primarily Manipur and Kathak. This was followed by the Kathak Tarana, composed according to Amir Khusro’s syllabus.

The next dance-drama was based on two incidents following the first people-friendly step taken in the divided Kashmir.

Depicting two separate stories of people reminiscing the Kashmir that once was, Indu Mitha took to the stage herself.

The 86-year-old combined the significant aspects of Bharatanatyam along with her students, creating the dramatic and narrative elements.

While ‘Tarana’ was performed in the Mughal style of Kathak, Sari Sunehri was a playful Bharatnatyam piece set in a pastoral community, depicting two different young women and a mischievous man. And the ‘Encounter’ was a contemporary piece drawing Bharatnatyam. The Maori song described a search for heritage, floating around like a feather, exploring cultures along the way. In the dance, three performers played with their different heritages, learning from each other.

The dancers whirled, laterally shifting body weight, extending arms, bending knees offset by gentle delicacy of movements in the neck, wrists and fingers.

Feriyal Aslam from the Pakistan Institute of Development Studies has been a student of Indu Mitha since 2000.

“It is about keeping this form of expression alive.

It feels great to perform especially with a coalition of dancers who have come together voluntarily to revive the various dances,” said Feriyal.Dance and drama was not distinguishable in one of the last performances ‘Mirror Mirror’ by Faizaan Ahab Choreography Design Solutions.

The performance aimed at unravelling a contemporary dance narrative highlighting vanity in a man’s life. It talked about how breaking away from the mundane, self-indulgence could often lead to seclusion and slow death.

“Tonight is about keeping dance as an important expression and culture alive,” said Osman Khalid Butt, one of the performers.

The two-hour-long event was conceived by Indu Mitha in collaboration with the PNCA.