Kinga Malec (21) has been learning North Indias classical kathak dance form under the tutelage of Lucknow-based Pandit Arjun Misra since August. A student of various dance forms since the age of six, Kinga taught dance for a whole year in Warsaw to save funds to come to India. This is my first visit but definitely not the last, she says, stating that henceforth shell spend her university vacations in India for continuing her formal training in this ancient dance form which originated in the courts of the Mughal emperors around the 16th century.Kingas appreciation for Indian dance grew out of her mother (the best person in my life) Violettas interest in Indian philosophy and spiritual discourses which would often be preceded by dance and cultural performances. While traditional Polish dances are joyful and energetic, classical Indian dance expresses stories through vivid facial and hand gestures. Theres a sensitivity and spiritual element in Indian dance which makes it very appealing, says Kinga.
An avid student of ice skating, traditional Polish dance and ballet while in school, Kinga was admitted into Varsovia, a dance troupe which toured the world in 2002, performing before audiences which included Pope John Paul II. In 2006, a Bollywood dance performance in Warsaw caught her fancy and she enroled for a six month course in Indian dance. She also started teaching, infusing semi-classic and folk elements into popular dance.
Though I didnt understand the lyrics I would look up the internet for translations to portray the exact expression conveyed in each song, she says. A chance encounter with Krzysztof Bartczak, a Polish diplomat married to Lucknow-based interior designer Rachna Misra, opened up the oppor-tunity of not only finding one of the greats of kathak in Lucknow, but also having a family to live with as she absorbed the nuances of the courtly dance and Indian culture.
Once in India, Kinga took the heat and the animals on the street and the people looking at me like a UFO all in her stride. I dont go to villages in Poland, so this is my chance to see animals up close, she jokes. Meanwhile she professes a growing love for colourful Indian apparel, street markets and Indian cuisine which she is learning despite a punishing dance schedule.
I have so much to learn. I am taking back a video of my guru to follow and will return next year to learn until I am sufficiently qualified to teach this grace-ful dance to people in Poland, she says with a glint of determination in her eye.
Vidya Pandit (Lucknow)
Nikita Gupta
Although only 21 years of age, Nikita Gupta has received an impressive number of awards for excellence in photography. The youngest graduate of the Images and More Photography Academy, Mumbai (estb.1999), and currently a final year mass media student at Bhavans Hind College, Nikita has already won a photography competition organised by Photography Imaging Education Association, Mumbai in which she was adjudged second (out of 5,000 entries), and the second prize of the Photography Guild of India, Mumbai.
Ever ready for camera-classics in fashion and travel photography, Nikita confesses shes physically and emotionally attached to her camera to the level of obsession. Since 2007 when she first burst upon Mumbais fashion photography scene, she has shot 15 magazine advertising campaigns and compiled photographic portfolios of 18 film and television actors, many of whom have since become small screen successes.
Nikitas affair with the lens began at six when she was gifted a simple Kodak camera by her father, Pravin Gupta, a Mumbai-based theatre actor. When I took my first photograph and captured a moment, I became aware that it would become my profession and vocation. Photography is my passion and palette. I want to excel in my field and though thats a long way off, Im willing to give the study and practice of still and perhaps even movie photography my utmost commitment, says this enthusiastic lenswoman, who in 2005 went to Chennai to intern for three months with well known photographer David Shaw. It was Mr. Shaw who made me conscious of my potential and persuaded me to sign up for formal programmes to learn the finer nuances of this craft, she recalls with gratitude.
Poised to break into big time fashion photography, Nikita is ready to challenge herself creatively. With Indias middle class growing rapidly, there is an equal demand for fashion and consumer goods, which need to be advertised heavily. Therefore the future of skilled professional photographers is bright, she predicts.
Power to your lens!
Neha Ghosh (Mumbai)