Arzoo Dance Theatre

Welcome to Cloud Kathak

With this blog I bring my love of dance and Kathak in particular to the
conversation in the cloud. I hope is this conversation will lure people back to the
practice, here on earth.
Kathak presents us with a wonderful paradox. The feet of the Kathak dancer are
firmly planted in the earth forming a deep connection between the earth the
dancer and the bells. And yet the form itself has traveled far and wide mixing and
blending with traditions all over the globe.
It is no surprise that I begin the next phase of my journey with Kathak dances
inspired by the poetry and music along the Silk Road. This ancient trade route
from Europe, through Central Asia and India to China was a vast network along
which people shared music, dance, literature, as well as religious and
philosophical thought. Adventuring artists travelled from Turkey to India.
Wandering Sufi mystics hitched a camel ride with the spice caravans and moved
with the winds. All of them carried stories, poetry and songs which united people
separated by thousands of miles into shared practices of art and devotion.
I have always been intrigued by how Kathak has traveled. And now I am
exploring the poetry of Sufi mystics, which had a profound influence on the
courtly arts in India. This exploration has resulted in a beautiful collaboration
entitled SILK ROAD MELODY.
Who are the poets and Sufis that traveled these paths their mystic devotion rising
and falling, undulating with the sand dunes and reaching far -lung places? Their
influence covers a time span of over a thousand years and more than a thousand
miles. Let us follow the Silk route and discover their mystic journey.

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