Vibe of 25 | When I founded Sufi Kathak 25 years back, I was accused of distorting classical dance, Manjari Chaturvedi

Sufi Kathak dancer Manjari Chaturvedi recalls how she was completely written-off when she founded the dance form and started performing in 1999 in Lucknow.

After conceiving the Sufi Kathak dance form, when Kathak dancer Manjari Chaturvedi started performing 25 years ago, she was completely written off.

Manjari Chaturvedi founder Sufi Kathak 25 years back that she started perforimg from Lucknow (Monica Dawar )

“I was accused of distorting a classical art by performing on Sufi and Punjabi folk music, wearing the black attire which is considered ‘apshagun’, performing kathak with qawwals and so much more. There were many questions that were asked to me such as there is no art called Sufi Kathak and what will younger artistes understand of Sufism? Having faith in the craft, I went ahead and started with my first stage (Sufi Kathak) show in hometown Lucknow in 1999, and a year later in Delhi. Today, I must have done over 500 shows including performing in 26 countries. This proves I am relevant and so is the dance form,” says Chaturvedi.

She not only featured in singer Rekha Bhardwaj’s debut song Tere Ishq Mein (2002) by director-musician Vishal Bhardwaj, but has collaborated with several other artistes and musicians including Kailash Kher, Tim Ries (saxophone, Rolling Stones, USA), Ustad Shujaat Hussain Khan, Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan and Sabri Bros.

Chaturvedi has students in various parts of the world and does the “naad meditation” with her students as part of the training and “the whirling the moving, is used by movement-therapist-dancer Anna Pohlmann as a therapy in Germany”.

Talking about conceiving the dance form, Chaturvedi shares, “I had been developing this form since 1995 with filmmaker Muzaffar Ali and guru Protima Bedi, which I started performing on stage in 1999. Now that music lovers shower so much love on this form, I consider it as a blessing of my gurus.”

She has taken up various endeavours. “The Courtesan Project is about recreating their art. The Vrindavan Project is about Radha Rani, the Jugni Project is about women stories of Punjabi folk besides our Sufi and Qawwali projects. I feel blessed Pt Jasraj invited me to perform at his father’s anniversary saying: ‘Baba ko Sufi-Kathak dikhana hai’. Such instances show the light that I am on the right path.”