Kathak Dance

Kathak  is one of the eight forms of Indian classical dances, originated from Uttar prades India. This dance form traces its origins to the nomadic bards of ancient northern India, known as Kathaks, or storytellers. Its form today contains traces of temple and ritual dances, and the influence of the bhakti movement. From the 16th century onwards it absorbed certain features of Persian and Central Asian dance which were imported by the royal courts of theMughal era.

The name Kathak is derived from the Sanskrit word katha meaning story, and katthaka in Sanskrit means he who tells a story, or to do with stories. The name of the form is properly  katthak, with the geminated dental to show a derived form, but this has since simplified to modern-day कथक kathak. kathaa kahe so kathakis a saying many teachers pass on to their pupils, which is generally translated, 's/he who tells a story, is a kathak', but which can also be translated, 'that which tells a story, that is 'Kathak.'

There are three major schools or gharanas of Kathak from which performers today generally draw their lineage: the gharanas of Benares (born in the courts of the Kachwaha Rajput kings, the Nawab of Oudh, and Varanasi respectively), Jaipur and Lucknow ; there is also a less prominent (and later) Raigarh gharana which amalgamated technique from all three preceding gharanas but became famous for its own distinctive compositions.