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Guru Purnima:Our mother is our first guru, says kathak duo Isha and Misha Ratan
A day to celebrate the learnings and respect the guru-shishya-parampara.
Twin sisters Isha and Misha Ratan started learning at the age of three from their mother, Jyoti Kiran Ratan, who was a popular folk dancer and teacher at Kendriya Vidyalaya.
“Like food, toys and many other things, dance was our way of life since my first memory. Our mother was the first teacher who started to train us under the guru-shishya parampara. She trained us and then enrolled us into Kathak Sansthan, but we were very mischievous and just refused to learn. It was later that Pandit Arjun Mishra spotted us and took us under his fold. Bahut maar khai hai maa se aur guru ji se, but that made us whatever little we are today,” says Isha.
It was after Pandit Mishra died in 2015 that they started learning under his disciple, Surabhi Singh. “Dance was a hobby for us, but while training under our gurus, it became our passion and profession. Isha teaches at CMS, Kanpur Road branch and I take workshops,” says Misha.
This year, they cracked the Mumbai dance auditions of the reality show Dance Deewane and performed in front of actors Madhuri Dixit Nene and Suniel Shetty. “On Guru Purnima we do all the rituals, including ghungroo puja, aashirwaad from my first guru (their mum) and my present guru. Our mother’s folk dance training comes in handy when we amalgamate it with Kathak. We are also training in western and contemporary dance under Punit Mittal sir,” says Isha.
