San Francisco Chronicle

Kathak dance companies honor legacy

- By Rachel Howard

Sitting at a picnic table in Balboa Park, Charlotte Moraga may look like a mild-mannered middle-aged woman as she walks about her neighborho­od. But in colorful silk garments, she is a force, able to whip through dizzying turns, stamp out a mind-boggling rhythm in a duel with a tabla player, or transform into a character from the Ramayana with an arch of her brow.

On this windy Sunday afternoon, Moraga is quieter, pausing frequently to collect her emotions. This is understand­able — she was present that morning in January 2015 when her guru, world-renowned kathak dance virtuoso Chitresh Das, suffered an aortic dissection and died suddenly at age 70. And Moraga was among the first of his disciples, two decades ago, to formalize the apprentice-master relationsh­ip in a solemn string-tying ceremony.

“I do feel like I’m carrying on his work,” says Moraga, 59, as the breeze stirs her straw hat and earrings, leaving unperturbe­d a tiny gold stud adorning her pale nose. “Of course I’m not him, but when I have so much privilege to have learned so much from him, I feel a tremendous calling, a compulsion to share it with the world and the next generation.”

Over the next two months, the Bay Area will buzz with Das’ legacy, ringing from the 4 pounds of bells kathak dancers tie to each ankle to amplify their complex, ear-teasing beats. First, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 17-19, Leela Dance Collective plans to stage “ReSound: Kathak in the Streets,” a celebratio­n producing pop-up performanc­es in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley, along with community dance workshops priced at $10. Then, Oct. 15-17, the Chitresh Das Institute plans to unveil an ambitious world premiere, “Mantram,” at San Francisco’s ODC Theater.

The beginnings of Leela Dance Collective can be traced to 2008, when Das’ internatio­nal Chhandam School of Kathak opened a branch in Los Angeles. A few years later, the leaders of that branch became a separate nonprofit entity from Das’ original organizati­on. The year after Das died, several of his leading dancers

got together “to think really critically about what we wanted to do,” recalls Rina Mehta, one of four leading dancers who now share artistic directorsh­ip of the Leela Dance Collective, which also encompasse­s an academy, with branches in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver and New York.

As this was happening, Moraga wanted to carry on Das’ legacy by focusing more on education and a youth company. She reached out to Das’ widow, Celine Schein Das, the former executive director of the Chitresh Das Dance Company, who immediatel­y shared Moraga’s vision and tapped a fellow leading dancer, Preeti Zalavadia, as managing director. Founded in 2016, the Chitresh Das Institute offers classes only in the Bay Area, and counts eight Das disciples on its teaching staff.

It’s the young artists who will take the spotlight in “Mantram,” embodying Hinduism’s five elements: earth, water, fire, wind and space.

“These dancers are very different because they all started training as children,” Schein Das said. “And they trained with Chitreshji (Das), and now with Charlotte.”

One of those dancers is 24-year-old Mayuka

Sarukkai. She began training with Das at age 9 and was quickly moved into adult-level classes. Now a graduate of Stanford University, she works in data analysis for Recidiviz, a nonprofit helping criminal justice leaders reduce incarcerat­ion — a calling she believes fits with the Das Institute’s official nine principles, which include service to society.

“Mantram” continues Das’ imperative of “innovation within tradition.” Moraga has placed each dancer atop a small resonant box, enhancing the sound and placing the feet on higher view. “It’s an additional challenge to have to dance in that limited space, but it’s a very cool effect,” Sarukkai says.

Leela Dance Collective is also channeling Das’ craftiness for reaching crossover audiences, which peaked in his collaborat­ions with tap dance prodigy Jason Samuels Smith and in their 2013 film, “Upaj: Improvise.”

“We’ve never done this level of outdoor performanc­e, and it’s pushing us choreograp­hically,” Mehta says. “But we want to be part of ... helping our communitie­s release the anxiety we’ve been living with for the past year.”

For both organizati­ons, the pandemic was an acute challenge. Leela

had to cancel a national tour of its show “Speak,” and the Das Institute was set to premiere “Mantram” when theaters closed last year. Finally returning to stages, these living embodiment­s of Das’ teaching feel more committed than ever to their art.

“For me, kathak was like the Pacific Ocean or the Grand Canyon, just endless and beautiful in its majesty,” Mehta says. “It was around me all the time, and guruji (Das) opened the door for me to look at it, and I just feel I’m not done.”

 ?? RJ Muna ?? Charlotte Moraga is the artistic director and co-founder of the Chitresh Das Institute.
RJ Muna Charlotte Moraga is the artistic director and co-founder of the Chitresh Das Institute.

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