Kathak Dance Class, One Session, Gaya

Details

Seventy five minutes at the Gaya academy, group of eight, on a sprung wooden floor with a mirrored wall. Stance, tatkar footwork, hastak, chakkars and short compositions set to teentaal, with a ten minute warm up and a ten minute cool down inside the session time rather than added to it. The floor is the specification nobody quotes and it is the one that matters most. Tile laid over concrete is what most dance rooms in a small city actually have, and years of tatkar on it is how ankles and knees are ruined. This floor is sprung wood, and you can test the claim yourself: stand on it and feel it give, then stand on the corridor outside and feel that it does not. Ghungroos are added only when the teacher says the feet are ready, never in month one to make a beginner feel they have arrived.

• 75 minutes including a 10 minute warm up and a 10 minute cool down, inside the time, not extra
• Sprung wooden floor with a mirrored wall, group of 8
• Live tabla accompaniment on alternate weeks
• Ghungroos provided until you buy your own, and introduced only when the feet are ready
• Eight sessions Rs 3,000 and twenty four Rs 8,400, against Rs 3,200 and Rs 9,600 singly
• Stage performance is optional and is never a condition of learning or of moving up
• Tell us about any knee, ankle or back problem before the first session so the warm up can be adapted
• Progress is measured in months. A first stage appearance, if you want one, is at the open evening held every 6 months