Fusion on feet: Flamenco and Kathak meet at Prithvi Theatre

Flamenco-Kathaa will see ghungroo keep up with Flamenco shoes as Aditi Bhagwat and Kunal Om bring two dance forms to life

Flamenco-Kathaa

Where: Prithvi Theatre, Juhu

When: Saturday, 6pm

Tickets: From Rs 355, call 2614-9546

Two countries with a rich history of music and performance. Two dance forms. One stage.

Flamenco-Kathaa presents a fusion form performed by kathak dancer Aditi Bhagwat and flamenco artist Kunal Om. With a combined dance experience of almost 40 years, Bhagwat and Om’s jugalbandi aims to bring out the best of the two forms.

The 90-minute performance will start with solos of the individual forms before they meld on stage to live music. “Flamenco-Kathaa is a story of how two dance forms can be merged together, rhythmically and musically,” says Bhagwat.

The live dance performance will see Aditya Kudtarkar on Cajon and Darbuka percussion, Shruti Bhave on violin, Tanay Rege on tabla and Anubhav Sharma on the vocals.

Aditi Bhagwat will bring in her Indian classical flavour to Spain’s folkloric dance

Om believes the seemingly disparate forms have more in common you’d imagine. Flamenco’s roots can be traced back to Rajasthan, when a nomadic community travelled to Europe before settling in southern Spain. Flamenco, in Spanish, loosely translates to ‘like-gypsy’.

Bhagwat trained from kathak’s Jaipur gharana. “One similarity between the two dances is that apart from being culturally rooted, both have a very similar foot tapping work and rhythm,” said Om. The rhythm, Om explains, comes from the same Jaipur gharana and therefore it is easier to synchronise the footwork. So ghungroos and flamenco shoes will find much in common.

This isn’t the first time when these two dance forms have joined forces. In 2014 at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco, kathak master Chitresh Das and Spanish flamenco artist Antonio Hidalgo Paz collaborated for Yatra: Journey From India to Spain.

Bhagwat has her own take. “It’s just about crossing boundaries and taking the risk of doing it. Once you get pass your initial inhibitions, the sky’s the limit.”