Meet Paramita Bhattacharyya | Kathak Dance Exponent

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paramita Bhattacharyya and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paramita, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I am from India and a Kathak danseuse trained in Lucknow gharana style of the dance form. I grew up in a small industrial town in the state of West Bengal in India. I belong to a family that practices Indian classical music and theater. I remember we regularly used to attend classical music concerts of renowned artists all year round. An upbringing in an environment where I got to hear singing and playing musical instruments made an impact in the young me.
I myself always had an interest in learning dance and used to participate in all the cultural events in my school. After watching Indian dance performances in television, at a very young age, I developed the interest to learn dance. When my parents found my inclination towards dance, they enrolled me at a dance school where I got the opportunity to learn the Kathak dance technique.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My dance form Kathak is a story telling art. I feel excited to talk about my dance and performing art form because of its story telling aspect that easily connects to our everyday life. Also, it easily interacts with the interest of my audience through its expressive nature. It was never easy for me as an artist to establish my ground where I am today. There are many challenges including making people believe in the importance of the Kathak dance form. Especially, in a foreign land where learning Indian art and culture, in general, is either a weekend activity or event oriented because we have to manage multiple tasks along with foreign culture where we live and work. I perform as a solo artist at many events with a mission to at least spread the word Kathak to people and grow an interest to the dance form.
I have noticed that although many people have interest to the dance form Kathak, at many times they lack the information for where to go and how to access a Kathak dance class in LA and how to decide on what they are looking for. I learned that only showcasing my dance will not serve the purpose of growing the interest in Kathak. I, therefore, always take an extra step to first explain the presentation in a story form and explain where it is originated and why it is important and that way I always try to educate and engage my audience so that they feel a connection to the dance form and find a purpose to learn it.
I would always try that Kathak dance form finds a significant place on the world stage alongside all other classical dance forms from around the world and people in the Western world get to know more about the Indian Kathak dance and its benefit in their life and wellbeing.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Very interesting question. Thanks for asking it, because when someone expresses personal liking, it reveals the real personality. Now when in LA, as we all know that it’s about Hollywood, Universal Studios, and Disneyland. But for me, there are some quite places as well in LA to find a quick getaway to relax and connect with your inner self. I would like to take my friend to some of the beautiful beaches in LA like Zuma beach, and Laguna. Beach front restaurants are great places to eat and drink. Also, there are few roof top restaurants in LA with beautiful views of LA downtown and the skyscrapers here especially in the evening. I would like to take my friend there to experience a LA weekend. One of many exciting places to visit would be the hiking trails on the Topanga mountains, or to the Hollywood sign, and the Palisades along the Pacific way. There are many in the list but in a weeklong trip, I would take my friend to these places and of course won’t miss the Hollywood walk of fame and The Universal tour. I am feeling fun and excited to explain all these but it’s interesting because I, as a performing artist, like to relate myself with the places and things I visit. It gives me many ideas on creating new and innovative piece of art that I include in my dance presentation.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to thank my parents for taking the initiative in enrolling me to a dance school especially because where I used to live that time was very far from the town where the dance school was located, and it was not encouraged by people to travel that far. The reason I am mentioning this because when I started learning dance, it was not very easily accessible in the industrial town where I lived and not many people were aware of the details of dance compared to today where the Internet is reachable to everyone to at least get the information about a dance form. I, therefore, thank my parents for listening to my request and understanding my willingness to learn dance and enrolling me to dance. I also would like to give credit to my first dance teacher who believed in me and encouraged me to appear for dance exams, because of what I earned one of the highest educational degrees in Kathak dance, Sangeet Prabhakar, while I was in high school and later, I had realized how significant achievement it was at a young age.

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Image Credits
@paramitabhattacharyya