Leela Kathak Dancers Infoseek
are a group of young dancers from Seattle, Washington,
who would like to share with you the joy of dancing Kathak - a classical dance
of North India that combines beautiful movement, spectacular cross rhythms,
story-telling and expression. The Leela Kathak Dancers are the students of
Guru Urmila Nagar, the leading dancer of Jaipur style Kathak, and the senior most
professor of dance at India's national institution for Kathak: the Kathak Kendra,
New Delhi.
Every year for the past five years, Urmila-ji (as she is respectfully known)
has been coming to Seattle for a two-month summer residency sponsored by the Prabha
Rustagi Memorial Trust - named after her late disciple who began the training
of some of the students. Under Urmila's guidance, these students
add new compositions, poems, songs to their repertoire, and improve their speed and expressive skills. At summer's end they give a free showcase performance.
* Throughout the year, the Leela Kathak Dancers practice with tabla player Annie Penta and singer Shantha Benegal in free classes held once a week. They perform in festivals, benefits, and school outreach programs. Annie and Shantha are also a singing duo who perform dhrupad under the name Leela Dhrupad Singers.
We invite you to join our classes and/or be in our audiences for our performances.
Contact Leela Kathak Dancers
Email: leelakathak@yahoo.com
Or write Prabha Rustagi Memorial Trust
3056 NE 85th Street
Seattle, WA 98115
(206) 522-4404