Milaap – where Kathak meets Ballet, Tap & Flamenco
 June 12th, 2010, Hamilton High School, Chandler, AZ

This exclusive dance production by KALAA KENDRA in association with IACC was the first performance ever to bring dances from India, France, Ireland, and Spain together – a unique show that the valley witnessed first time ever!
Director of Milaap, Radhika Kotwal, also founder of Kalaa Kendra, a Kathak institute in Gilbert, AZ, invited guest artists Yumi La Rosa – a noted Flamenco artist, Jana Moore – specializing in Ballet and Tap, and Ranjana Phadke – a Kathak Guru, to bring together this artistic unison.
Radhika has been extremely involved and interested in exploring different dance forms and highlighting their commonalities. Being a pure Kathak performing artist for the past 15 years, she believes that fusion in the "real" sense needs to be carefully explored such that it enhances the similarities but also preserves the purity of each dance style. Although Tap, Flamenco and Ballet have originated in different parts of the world, there are a lot of features in common with Kathak, be it the elegance and subtlety as you would see in ballet or the spontaneity in Flamenco or the vigor in tap.

After a brief but effective opening introduction about Milaap, Radhika opened the show with a powerful Kathak Solo piece based on Kathak elements such as Aamad (entrance), Todas (pieces) and Tatkaar (footwork) in 16 beat rhythmic beats from Teentaal.
Jana followed by an elegant Swan Lake Ballet Solo and Ranjana brought about the expressive beauty of Kathak in her “Abhinaya and Laykaari” piece. Yumi’s capturing flamenco solo item, “La Vida” was a Spanish rhythm with sections.
There were 3 different flavors to the show and each flavor had a variety of solo, duo and group choreography relevant to the particular dance style that was fused with Kathak. As an instance, Kathak and Ballet had fusion choreography based on smooth, subtle stances and pirouettes whereas the Kathak Tap duo saw some fierce drum beat music with a fiery red backdrop to set the right mood.  The Flamenco Kathak piece had the audience in pin drop silence as the artists presented complex rhythmic patterns in a “call response” fashion only with ankle bells and shoes but no other music!
Group performances by each of the main artists’ dance schools were another highlight of the event. Radhika’s students, as an example, mesmerized the audience as they showcased several different compositions in Kathak. Flamenco and Tap artists were extremely entertaining as well.

All the way from flawless event management & coordination by Blu Lantana (http://www.blulantana.com) to excellent event promotional material design by Miti Adiecha, to professional photography by Anil Kandangath, and amazing colorful costumes, it would only be fair to say that Milaap was a class act. 24 Carrots (http://www.24carrotsjuice.com) was instrumental in providing refreshments and from the overall quality of the show, it came across that Radhika had great teamwork and volunteers to arrange an event of such a magnitude.
The event flowed smoothly throughout and concluded with a beautiful Kathak duo item followed by an elegant bowing down sequence by all artists.
All in all, Milaap has been an outstanding pioneering project in terms of uniqueness, collaboration among artists and novel ideas. Radhika has plans of extending on this theme in future and we wish her all the very best!
For reviews and comments on Milaap or event pics, do visit
http://milaap.thenakedframe.com (courtesy: Anil Kandangath)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milaap/112617492114802?ref=ts
Or contact Radhika at Kalaa Kendra for Kathak classes/workshops at [email protected] or simply visit her blog, http://kalaa-kendra.blogspot.com