Kathak was how ancient Northern Indian storytellers retold scriptures through hand gestures and facial expressions. Over the years, practitioners of kathak worked at refining its dramatic and rhythmic aspects, delighting the audience with their mastery over rhythm and stylised mime.

Aakanksha is purely traditional repertoire. Aakanksha means desire. Desire for love, happiness and harmony. Through dance, artists try to reach salvation. The performance is divided into sections, starting with the vishnu vandana, the teentaal vilambit laya, the ashtnayika—portraying eight heroines through facial expressions—and the tarana, a type of composition Indian classical music in which Persian and Arabic words are applied alongside the tabla. Maithili Sharan Gupt’s poetry Yashodhra, about the wife of Gautama Buddha and her pain of separation from her enlightened husband, will also be featured. The fast paced teentaal will close the performance with rapid footwork and a paran of 21 rounds.

About the Artist

Pallavi Sharma has studied under the guidance of Mrs Bharti Gupta and Mrs.Urmila Nagar. She has done her visharad in hindustani vocal from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya (New delhi) under the guidance of Sandeep Shrivastava and Sharda Prasana Acharya. A graded artist of doordarshan,  Pallavi Sharma performed in many places in India such as Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Hyedrabad, Kanpur, Pilani Institute, Mumbai, Motihari and Trivandrum. She performed in Zee Millenium, Mumbai, organised by Zee TV, the 8th Youth festival in Trivandrum, the Jodhpur Sangeet Natak Academy Festival, Doordarshan (DD) National Channel in Delhi, as well as at the Esplanade