Aqsaam-e-Naach: Andaaz-e-Kathak arrives at the Karachi Arts Council for two nights on February 13 and 14, with performances starting at 8:00 pm. The production highlights the discipline, grace and expressive depth of Kathak Karachi through a carefully staged programme.
Mohsin Babar choreographed the show and leads a company of 12 dancers who are scholarship students of his Kathak School of Performing Arts, the city’s first dedicated Kathak academy. The performers represent years of rigorous training within the traditional lineage system and bring that practice to urban audiences.
The programme includes eight dance pieces presented as group compositions and solo presentations, moving between classical Kathak repertoire and interpretive works such as fusion tarana and ghazal-inflected pieces. The production aims to present Kathak Karachi as both a classical discipline and a living, versatile performance language. As Mohsin Babar puts it, “The ghungroo is simply the dancer’s instrument, just as the tabla nawaz has the tabla.”
In line with a mission of preservation and inclusion, the Kathak School of Performing Arts offers full scholarships to deserving students who would otherwise be unable to access formal training. Beyond the Karachi stage, Babar plans to take productions to small towns and villages so audiences across Pakistan can experience classical dance live.
With 27 years of experience, Mohsin Babar trained under Pakistan’s pioneering kathakar Ustaad Hamid Hussain Shaad Jaipuri and undertook advanced training at the National School of Drama in India under Ustaad Rajendra Ganganni. He has also trained in contemporary dance in Germany and in Pakistan’s folk forms, and he continues to blend rigorous classical practice with community-focused outreach.
Babar’s recent projects include the feature-length dance-theatre Khwaab, seen by 50,000 people across six cities in Sindh last year, and the community theatre production Soch Badlen, Zindagi Sawarein, performed in 10 villages on family planning and women’s rights. The patron of the current production is Naween Mangi, a writer, rural development specialist and social entrepreneur committed to promoting the performing arts.
Tickets for the Karachi Arts Council performances are priced at Rs 1,500 and are available online via Townevent as well as at the venue. Audiences interested in experiencing Kathak Karachi are encouraged to secure seats early for either evening performance.
