From water and sanitation to Kathak: Yasmin Singh’s deft moves

Development sector specialist-turned-acclaimed Kathak dancer Dr Yasmin Singh on Friday gave a scintillating performance along with her troupe at the Miranda House annual cultural fest 'Tempest 2024' on the North Campus of Delhi University.

Coming from Bhopal, Yasmin completed her doctorate in Kathak from the Raja Man Singh Tomar Sangeet Vishwadvidyalaya, Gwalior. She had completed her Master's in Kathak from the Indira Kala evam Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh.

Yasmin was initiated into Kathak by Guru Madhukar Jagtapji of Indore. In the Guru-Shishya (master-disciple) tradition, she has honed her dance by training with renowned and widely acclaimed teachers, including Pandit Arjun Mishra of Lucknow. Talking to IANS, Yasmin said: "Initially, I was just doing it as a hobby, because my focus was on my career and not on the performing arts. I was a specialist in the development sector, working in the areas of water and sanitation for the Government of India."

Continuing about her life's journey, she added: "For 15 years, I have worked in that field and then I took up this dance form as both a profession and passion. For the past five years, I have dedicated my time and devoted my energy to practising and performing."

Yasmin is empanelled with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and also under the Festival of India Abroad (FOI) scheme of the Ministry of Culture. She is a graded Doordarshan artiste as well.

Elaborating about her career path, Yasmin said: "The four main gharanas of Kathak are well known. Being a product of a university, I do not follow any particular gharana. I focus more on the aesthetics of the dance form, on the beautiful use of lights, design and costumes, and taking up a theme and presenting it."

Avidly experimenting with the Kathak dance style and structure, Yasmin has produced, directed and choreographed productions such as 'Shiv Om', 'Shakti Swaroopa', 'The Divine Krishna', 'Anubhuti', 'The Raigarh Kathak', 'Mahadev' and 'Surya'.

For 'Tempest 2024', Yasmin and her troupe presented four acts that showed her versatility, her ability to execute a dance drama flawlessly as well as the suppleness of her moves. The dance acts were 'Surya Vandana', 'Sargam', 'Draupadi' and 'Thumri-Chandrabadni', which has been written by Raja Chakradhar Singh of the Raigarh Gharana.

Supporting Yasmin were her troupe members Sriyanka Mali, Sangita Dastidar, Abhishikta Mukhopadhyay, Neil Jennifer, Subrata Pandit, Bishwajit Chakraborty, Prasenjit Majumder and Sandip Sarkar. The performance with pre-recorded music was 50 minutes long.