Kathak dancer Adnan Jahangir is gearing up for performances in Karachi and Switzerland in the next few months.
“I am expecting confirmation of both the performances soon,” Mr Jahangir told Dawn in a recent chit chat.
He said he had been given an award by the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute for his efforts to promote kathak dance. The Cultural, Dramatic and Entertainment Society of the GIK on its 20-year celebrations gave him the award.
Jahangir had been associated with the GIK since 2001 and every year as a guest kathak dancer, he goes to attend their performing arts festival.
His dance productions such as Chakkar have received wide appreciation and he has a number of national and international performances under his belt. He trains 20,000 students of various institutions.
He regrets that there are not many exponents of the art around and the government does not show any consistent approach and support towards it.
“Whenever some delegation comes from abroad and the government officials want to hold a dance show for them they would often ask for a soni kuri to do kathak,” he said in a lighter vein. He said the officials don’t realise that the art can’t flourish without generous support.
He said he’s going to perform in Karachi in July-August on the platform of the All-Pakistan Music Conference and in Switzerland.
He said he would take his dance production Goonj to Karachi in which artistes such as Samia Mumtaz and Wahab Shah would also be part of the production so would be North American contemporary dancer Gillain Rahodes.
The Punjab Council of Arts is going to hold grand finale of the Craft Competition after Eid.
The event falls under the Chief Minister’s Talent Hunt Scheme and artisans from all over Punjab would participate. The Council having nine divisional arts councils is now working to build arts councils in districts; one district arts council has already been established in Sahiwal and another one in Bhakkar, said Tanyia Sohail, Director Arts and Culture of the Punjab Council of Arts. She said the grand finale was expected to take place in Lahore and it would be a great opportunity to the Lahorites to see handicraft under one roof.
The Faiz Foundation Trust will organise an interactive talk by Dr Shagufta Feroz on Sunday (today) on the topic ‘Fasting and Ramazan Plan’.
Dr Feroz is a renowned expert in family and lifestyle medicine and holistic health and has spoken on healthy lifestyle at TEDx Lahore and about 100 health shows on numerous Pakistani TV channels.
She has double PhD in Holistic Nutrition and Integrative Medicine from the USA. In 2017, the Harvard University nominated her as their collaborator for Pakistan for introducing Lifestyle Medicine in the curriculum.
AUK-based Pakistani girl, Rukhsar Naz, famous for humour acts such as BrownGirlProblems1, is all set to make her mainstream debuts with drama serial “Main Khayal Hoon Kisi Aur Ka” that stars Hareem Farooq and Ali Rehman in lead roles. It is written by Shabana Ghulam Nabi and directed by Emraan Kaleem Mallick. The serial is expected to go on air after Eidul Fitr.
Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2018
