The crowd at the University of Ottawa’s Academic Hall couldn’t stop clapping and cheering when Hemant Panwar performed his impeccable Kathak footwork on stage. His wife, Vaishali Panwar, smiled radiantly as she gracefully danced around him with her elaborate hand movements. Four young musicians sat on a carpet placed on a raised platform on the stage and played classical Indian music to which the couple danced. Such was the scene at ‘An Evening of Kathak’ event on Jan. 17, 2015.

The word ‘kathak’, meaning ‘story-telling’, is a Hindu classical dance form having its roots in India. Kathak dancers tell a story through their dance. The story that Hemant and Vaishali told through their dance that night was the story of a Hindu princess, Meera, and her love and devotion for Lord Krishna, a Hindu God.

Hemant Panwar, kathak dancer, reciting the story of Meera during the performance. Hemant is also a singer, songwriter, composer and lyricist. He has recently released two albums called ‘The Creator’ and ‘O My Lord Rama’.

The event was part of a three-day dance festival called The DANs/cE KAPITAL Festival 2015. This yearly event was organized by Saveeta Sharma of the Upasana Dance Company in Ottawa.

Saveeta, a professional Kathak dancer, has been teaching Kathak for 25 years now. She says most of her students are college and university students.

“I prefer those students really because the young kids are the ones who test your ability as a teacher,” she says.

According to Saveeta, it takes 15 years of training to become a professional Kathak dancer. Saveeta started dancing at the age of four and trained for about eight to 10 hours a day to get to where she is today.

Two hours before the main event, Hemant and Vaishali serenely rehearsed their dance moves, while the four musicians rehearsed their music. The tabla, the harmonium and the dilruba were the musical instruments used to produce classical Indian music that night.

Vaishali tying belled strings or ghungroos around her ankle before the show. These ghungroos are an important part of a Kathak dancers attire and are mainly used to intensify the rhythmic sound of the dancers footwork.

Hemant and Vaishali rehearsing their gig before the actual show. The couple owns a production company in Toronto called Panwar Music and Dance Productions where they teach Kathak to people of all ages.

(L to R) Gurinder Singh, playing the tabla, singer Salisha Purushuttam, Divya Gossai, playing the harmonium and Rattan Singh, playing the dilruba. These musicians are also students and Kathak dancers at Panwar Music and Dance Productions. The two girls normally dance with Hemant and Vaishali in most of their concerts however, this time they decided to perform live music instead.

It was Kathak that brought Hemant and Vaishali together. As children, the two went to the same Kathak class where they were often paired together by their teacher to perform duets. They eventually fell in love. The two have been dancing together for 20 years now.

“When you’ve come this far, you realize there is no other way but to be together,” says Vaishali.

Vaishali’s family got her into learning Kathak when she was only a child. At that point she didn’t know that she would one day grow to become a professional Kathak dancer and be appreciated by so many.

Vaishali Panwar, showing off her intricate hand movements while dancing to music composed by her husband. Vaishali moved from India to Canada with her husband in 2005 when an organization in Canada approached the duo after watching their concert in Guyana and asked them to perform the same show in Canada. The couple took up the offer and trained 20 Canadian dancers in Kathak which eventually set off their career in Canada.

“It started out as a hobby,” she says. “Slowly my hobby became my passion and I thought to myself, ‘if my passion were to become my profession, my life would be perfect.’”

Vaishali Panwar doing 25 Kathak spins or chakkars. Long skirts worn by Kathak dancers are specially designed in such a way so as to enhance their flare during the spins, giving them a more dramatic look.

The event ended with a round of applause and a standing ovation from the audience. The crew spent the rest of the evening socializing with guests and looking pleased with the work they had done that day.