ANKH – Amara Nritya Kala Hansa
Amara Nritya Kala Hansa (ANKH) aims to create the process of movement through the Kathak grammar with a dynamic exchange between the world and the active perception of an individual, by thinking in the technical attributes of Kathak dance and bridging it with the concept of modernity. Led by Artistic Director, Gauri Sharma Tripathi, we focus on training, understanding, questioning and a dynamic exchange between the Guru and the Shishya, thus keeping the tradition of the Parampara alive. The ANKH Dance repertoire has performed in India & abroad, at venues as the National Center for Performing Arts (Mumbai), The Kala Ghoda Festival (Mumbai), The Alchemy Festival (The Southbank Center, UK), Brighton Festival and so on.
The training is in both applied and abstract practices within the Kathak dance form, and the aim is to highlight the resilience of the form through rigor and discipline in changing times, and the transformation of the students into performers. The journey envisages a collective dialogue and a conscious strive to connect with the form and the self in a collective movement.
Gauri Sharma Tripathi has trained in the classical tradition of Kathak, under the guidance of her Guru and mother, Padma Sharma.
She is the Artistic Director of her companies Amara Nritya Kala Hansa & ANKH Dance UK. Gauri wrote the three-year degree course on Kathak for London Contemporary Dance School, she was also part of the ISTD South Asian dance founding team, faculty and examiner.
Her choreographic highlights include Polaroid Feet, Sacred Monsters, Ronin and Gnosis, Coming of Age, Escapade, Waterscapes, Initium, Sapnay, Maya, Sufi Zen, Mahabharat and Wah Wah Girls for Akram Khan, Akademi and Sadler’s Wells.
As a resident artist of the Southbank Center she has curated The Alchemy Festival for the last nine years and is associated with The Women of the World Festival. She has brought a strong South Asian presence in the UK arts scene. Her newest choreographic piece, “Bodyline,” which has toured the UK, and her solo piece, “Antahkarna,” looks at Kathak dance in its vivid and varied forms. She recently premiered a new performance piece, “Sillouette- The Boderline” in the Southbank Center and at The Kala Goda Festival in Mumbai.
Gauri was the first South Asian dancer to perform at Westminster Abbey, has Judged the BBC Young Dancers Finale and has worked with Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Nitin Sawney, Taufiq Qureshi and the likes.
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