Five years of meticulous research has churned out a new-age artistic creation which is the first-ever portrayal of the entire Gita Govinda in authentic Kathak. This is the first such endeavour for any dance form and first-ever digital compilation of the entire Gita Govinda.
All the 24 songs in Jayadeva’s celebrated 12th-century Sanskrit poem find pioneering presentation in the north Indian form, thanks to exponent Guru Dr Pali Chandra and her team backed by Kerala-based Nataysutra-Invis team — overall involving 200 people across 1,000 days.
The feat by Natyasutraonline.com features the choreography of the full text of the 24-prabandh masterpiece featuring the romance between Lord Krishna and Radha besides the sakhis along the banks of the Yamuna.
As the digitised content is set for worldwide distribution, the programme will be open to subscribers for different periods ranging from one to five years, according to Nataysutra, a heritage-preserving flagship project of leading content developer Invis Multimedia.
The beneficiaries will be professional dancers, students and culture enthusiasts, points out Switzerland-settled Guru Dr Pali Chandra, a frontline disciple of the illustrious Guru Vikrama Singhe and Guru Kapila Raj. “The videos will be of use also to culture researchers, performing artistes and choreographers across genres,” adds the Lucknow-born maestro, a global ambassador of Kathak.
The programme has been designed based on Natya Shastra and Abhinaya Darpana so that the students of all dance forms can make use of this content in their respective forms.
Natyasutra is also planning to soon bring a set of collaterals related to the Gita Govinda. These include an e-book in coffee-table format, mural paintings, wall decors and curios with indigenous crafts.