Revealing the Complexity and Tension of Kathak in 'Bibi Rukiya's Reckless Daughter'
- Janejira Matthews
- 12 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Kathak, soft and fluid yet defined, might be described as grace with an accented edge. An aesthetic outlier from its Indian classical counterparts, Kathak has a flowing gentility poured into the form through rippling palms matched with whip-fast turns. Yet Amina Khayyam Dance Company’s artists have mastered the form enough to offset its softness with an emotional tension layered and exposed throughout Bibi Rukiya’s Reckless Daughter. Typical to Kathak, the feet may stamp close together directly beneath the body’s centre, or split wide apart as if liberated. Reckless Daughter reflects Kathak’s freeing nature whilst telling a family narrative, all whilst toying with Kathak’s rules to reveal a harder, chained side that unleashes a furiously expressive force – one that is undeniably female. Indeed, the work itself is choreographed by Amina Khayyam but draws upon the real-life experiences of women in communities across the UK.
Bibi Rukiya’s Reckless Daughter tells of a mother and her three daughters, each imbued with distinct characters. It also depicts girlhood and womanhood, cycles and repeated patterns. Bibi Rukiya herself is maternal, proud and controlling of her brood. There is a tenderness to her too, its presence marking her youth as we see her move through life stages often expected of women in traditional South Asian societies. Her upheld palm is a mirror as she admires her girlish beauty, but then her legs bend and widen as she hobbles in a circle in pregnancy, before curving her arms outwards to behold her newborn child, eyes glowing in affection and pride. A prescribed and expected way of being frames Rukiya’s life, but the same cannot be said of her daughters. Rukiya’s pressure is centred upon her eldest, who is stoic but tense. She and Rukiya dance at opposite diagonals of the stage, Rukiya dictating rhythms with her feet that her daughter echoes back. It is common to see call and response between dancers and musicians in Kathak as a creative conversation, but here Rukiya dominates and her daughter responds facing away from her, fists bunched and neck taut with angry strain. Seeing Kathak danced with tension and emotion that feels raw instead of theatric is both moving and innovative, and draws the form into contemporary focus beyond simply altering the movement. Instead, what is offered in terms of narrative and style feels deep and relevant.
As the narrative builds, family dynamics shift from discomfort to fun, to collectively rebellious. An ad-hoc fashion show between two of the sisters, easily pictured as a familiar scene of teenage girls throwing on flamboyant fabrics over cheeky poses and dancing, is disrupted by their older sibling in a frustrated bid to hide the mess from their mother. The girls become more united in movement and empathy for each other over time, their determination against their mother’s insistence on conforming to her desires highlighting a generational divide widened not only by age, but by an ever-changing world where femininity is constantly shifting. A fitting narrative often verging into reality for today’s younger women, Reckless Daughter addresses the toughness of conservative family values with emotive nuance. That it has been created in the Western dance landscape arguably exposes a complexity to South Asian family dynamics and femininity rarely brought up in mainstream discourse, the work itself culminating into an insightful glimpse of changing times.
