Tales of Travels

Hola!

Yes, I am indeed doing some major blogging catch up. But between travel, catching a nasty stomach bug, and sending Natasha back off (loneliness...), it's been a bit crazy. As for our travels themselves, they were glorious! The rich history, the beautiful architecture (meh the blazing hot weather in India's hottest state),
 and the regional arts were fantastic. This post features a bit random and tangential facet to my research. When we were in Agra, obviously we went and saw the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, etc. Cue brief picture interlude.



Gorgeous aren't they? So whilst touristing it up at the Taj, we stumbled upon a dance drama called Mohabbat the Taj. This dance was a series of scenes depicting the saga of love - the true and immortal love of Shajahan for Mumtaj Mahal- his beautiful wife; the lavish lifestyle of mughal era; epic hardship of the artisans for 22 years that created the most precious specimen of craftsmanship. As far as the dance goes, this drama had a definite Bollywood theme (like, it smacked you in the face). But I enjoyed picking out the pieces of Kathak dance implemented. And the ending piece paid a tribute to thre various dance forms of India (oh look...it's my project). So this dance was special in that it showed the wide
spread influence of classical dance, especially in the prevalent culture of Bollywood today. Here's an excerpt from the performance:

Notice the frequent spins - this is an integral part of Kathak dance. However, it's integrated with a cinematic flair that's undeniably Bollywood. 

So that's all for now! More traveling tomorrow...at 4:30 in the morning. Adieu!

~Prithvi