Daksha Sheth Dance Company

 Daksha has always been something of a rebel in the Indian dance world, a brilliant and highly respected young Kathak dancer who "went astray" and ventured into uncharted terrain. The deviations and surprise turns in her dance career have confused many, including her admirers, and confounded those who like to pigeon-hole artists with convenient labels. With her immense talent, a total belief in herself and the courage to follow her intuition, (or just ornery pig headedness?), Daksha has always followed her own path. And with a fiery reputation to boot, she has ruffled many feathers through the years, but in the process she has created works that have stretched the boundaries of Indian dance.

There is arguably no dancer in India who has explored such a range of movement idioms and has performed with excellence in so many diverse styles. From Kathak to Mayurbhanj Chhau to Contemporary Dance, Daksha has made her mark at the top in each idiom. Here though is no dilettante dabbling in different fields; on the contrary, each step in her journey represents an investment of years of hard work. Hers is a life driven by a passion for dance that has subsumed all other considerations.

The Kathak Dancer
Kathak, the classical dance of North India, is, of all Indian classical styles, the least structured and most spontaneous, encouraging an informal and intimate rapport with the audience. Its beauty lies in the precise relationship of movement and rhythm, in delicate, subtle gestures, graceful sweeps and sparkling pirouettes, and in the subdued, naturalistic evocation of human emotions. The rhythmic complexity of the footwork in Kathak is developed to a degree unsurpassed by any other dance style in the world.

Daksha Sheth brings to Kathak not only a mastery of technique that is the fruit of a thorough and meticulous training, but a total involvement in dance, a profound confidence, and a joyful spontaneity that infused her performance with rare intensity and authority. For twelve years she was groomed by Padma Shree Smt. Kumudini Lakhia, who as a dancer and choreographer opened up new possibilities of content and presentation in Kathak dance. As a principal dancer in Mrs Lakhia's renowned Kadamb troupe, Daksha performed throughout India as well as in the U.S.A., Seychelles, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Pakistan, and on the concluding night of the 1982 Festival of India in London.

Daksha was also privileged to receive specialized training from the greatest living master of Kathak dance, Padma Vibhushan Shri Birju Maharaj, who represents the lineage of hereditary dancers who have preserved and carried forward the Kathak tradition. From her two gurus, Daksha has imbibed the best of both the contemporary and the traditional idioms of Kathak, which she has enriched with the stamp of her own personality to create a style that is authentic yet distinctly her own.

More than this however, Daksha Sheth is a born performer, with a passion to dance. It is her instinctive capacity to project herself and to involve the audience that has won her warm affection among critics and the general public, and made her one of the most powerful and compelling dancers in India today.

The Chhau Dancer
Chhau is an ancient dance from the eastern regions of India. It has its roots in the courts of the old princely states, where it was fostered as a form of martial art, and in the temples of the region, where is has strong associations with Shaiva worship. In Chhau, the stylized movements are based either on the handling of weapons like the sword and the shield, of they imitate the movement of animals like the tiger and the deer, or they display everyday village activities like sweeping the floor and pounding paddy.

Daksha Sheth was already a Kathak dancer of repute when she first encountered Chhau, and was overwhelmed by the power and beauty of this little known style. In sharp contrast to the highly refined and lyrical nature of Kathak, Chhau is a particularly strong and strenuous dance in which the sinuous and fluid body movements are animate by a raw and primal energy. Of the three surviving schools of Chhau, Daksha has focused on the Mayurbhanj tradition, and has undertaken rigorous training with the renowned guru, Shri Krishna Chandra Naik and other senior teachers of the form. Mayurbhanj Chhau, unlike other Chhau traditions, is performed without a mask, and is characterized by a greater freedom of movement and a richer choreography while still retaining the virility of the martial dance from which it took birth.

It is indicative of Daksha's determined and independent spirit that, fired by a desire to preserve and propagate Chhau, and despite many obstacles, she has distinguished herself in this hitherto male dominated domain. As a result of her dedication and perseverance, Daksha Sheth has emerged as the first Indian woman to perform Chhau as a soloist.