Parampara is Sanskrit word meaning ‘continuation’ or ‘succession of knowledge’ from one expert (guru) to the next. It also signifies an uninterrupted sequence of teacher / student connection, also known as guru-shishya Parampara. Montage of archive stills of the Kathak gurus that the film is dedicated to: Late Pandit Sundarlal Gangani; Late Pandit Durgalal; Late Pandit Birju Vibhushan Maharaj; Late Pandita Rohini Bhate and Padmashree Guru Kumudini Lakhia.
The film opens with an introduction from Nilima Devi MBE, the founder, and Artistic Director of the Centre for Indian Classical Dance. She gives a brief summary of her career, from beginning her training in India, then Germany, and finally coming to Leicester in September 1980. She then introduces a series of clips showing past performances with contributions from CICD alumni students.
Kathak performance by Nilima Devi and CICD - 1985
An extract of a performance celebrating the refurbishment of the CICD studio - Ms. Devi and 5 of her students dance on stage. The video is followed by photographs from the night, we see attendees at the performance - the Lord Mayor of Leicester; Hermin Mackintosh (E. Midlands Dance Officer), and group photos of performers.
The Ugly Duckling - CICD & Arts in Education - 1989
Seven short extracts from the production which saw the fairy-tale retold as a Kathak drama.
CICD alumni Nayana Whittaker talks about her time with the centre. Nayana was one of the centre’s first dance students, obtaining her Kathak diploma in 1986. She mentions two productions she was involved in: ‘The Ugly Duckling’ where she danced as Mother Duck, and ‘Triangle’. This contribution is followed by snapshots of students at Leicester based Kathak workshops.
Indian Dancers CICD Edinburgh Fringe Festival - 1990
Three clips from performances at the Edinburgh Festival, the dancers performing both Kathak and Indian folk dances.
This segment ends with CICD alumni Gita Lakhlani. Gita notes how Kathak has proven to be a solid foundation for learning other forms of dance and has given her a "passion and vitality of spirit".
CICD, Arts in Education and Community Dancers
This section begins with clips from a performance of Ritu Sringar (The Six Seasons of India) at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester in 1991.
Kathak to Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 - 1992
This extract features Nilima Devi joined by two dancers as they perform a Kathak dance to classical music (poor sound quality).
CICD and Arts in Education - 1993
The stage is full for the next clip from an educational performance of ‘Sangeet Sabha’ at the Phoenix Theatre, Leicester. Here we see 14 Kathak dancers perform to music and vocals.
Another CICD alumni, David Miodrag, appears on screen with his young daughter. He talks about learning Kathak for the best part of a decade in the 1990s.
Triangle - Phoenix Arts Nilima Devi, Gita Lakhlani & Nayana Whittaker - 1993
Three extracts from a touring show. In voiceover, Nilima Devi notes that the accompanying drummers were both Indian and Western, which allowed them to present intricate rhythmic patterns.
CICD and Arts in Education - 1993
Five clips are shown from a performance at Arabian Knights / Aladdin at the
Haymarket Theatre, staged as part of a summer school festival programme, involving students at various stages of training in Kathak.
CICD alumni Sheetal Purohit shares her memories of playing the princess in the production.
Another alumni student, Shivani Satya introduces herself and tells us about her time at CICD, including a 1993 trip to India with Nilima Devi, where the ‘Rainbow’ piece was created by Kumudini Lakhia.
Kathak Masterclass Workshops by Kumudini Lakhia Ji
A brief extract from a class given by Kumudini Lakhia in Leicester.
CICD and Arts in Education - 1993
We see four clips from ‘Stars and Stripes’, performed as part of the Leicestershire Schools Festival. This piece showcased Kathak students from a variety of backgrounds.
Rainbow - Phoenix Arts CICD - 1994 - 1995
Three short extracts from the award-winning ‘Rainbow’, a production for senior CICD students choreographed by Kumudini Lakhia (poor sound quality).
Two more CICD alumni appear in this segment. Jagruti Gohil talks about how grateful she is to have been able to perform all over the country in productions such as ‘Rainbow’, ‘The Ugly Duckling’, and ‘Vyom’. She also gained a junior diploma through the Prayag Sangit Samiti under Ms. Devi’s guidance.
Jaymini Sahai began learning Kathak dance with CICD and Nilima Devi 1983, attending weekly lessons alongside school and college. She thanks Ms. Devi for her encouragement, motivation, and inspiration.
CICD at the Phoenix Theatre
Three clips from ‘Vyom - The Dances of the Planets’ are followed by a video message from CICD alumni Priti Raithatha. She talks about her experience with CICD, beginning her studies there in August 1982 to still working with them today.
The choreographer of Vyom, Roshan Datye then speaks to camera in the Hindi language, with subtitles. She talks about working with Nilima Devi and the Vyom production.
Extracts from performances by Kathak students from London and Leicester taking part in a Kathak conference organised by CICD in 2000.
Extracts then follow from further Arts Council funded performances:
Folk Dance Style - Kalbeliya
CICD and Community Folk Dancers of Leicester
Loka Nritya
CICD Collaboration - 2004
Folk Dance Style - Ghummar - Loka Nritya CICD Collaboration - 2004
Nartan Festival, CICD 25th Anniversary - 2005
To celebrate the final year of funding, the Nartan festival, combined with a South Asian dance conference, presented a wide range of performances. These clips include one of a Kathak dancer accompanied by live musicians on stage.
Kahani Diwali - Derby, Leicester, Nottingham - 2006
In a collaboration between Leicester’s CICD and Derby & Nottingham Asian arts groups, young professional dancers performed in these three cities, their production depicting the story of Ramayan.
[CICD Dance Showcases, 2006 - 2009]
Uncaptioned clips of children of various ages taking part in a CICD organised dance showcase.
Urjah - Phoenix Arts
Sarah, Manuella, Kali, Aakash - 2007
Clips from ‘Urjah’, a production based around the idea of ‘divine female energy’. One of the male dancers, Aakash Odedra appears after the clip and talks about the production.
Clips from CICD DVD production ‘Sinjini’
Clips from an educational video produced by CICD designed as a teaching aid on Indian dance and music. We also see Nilima Devi talk about studying the art form to different levels.
CICD alumni Subhash Viman introduces himself as a Leicester based dancer, artist, and choreographer. He began his training in Kathak with Nilima Devi and CICD at 25 years old, going on to have a career in dance.
Clips from Moving on - National Symposium CICD - 2011 follow. They feature: Ash Mukherjee, Aakash Odedra, Sooraj Subhramaniam, and Revanta Sarabai
CICD celebrated their 30th anniversary by hosted a national conference on Indian dance in October 2011. The conference ended with four male dancers presenting different Indian dance styles. We see brief extracts from each of their performances.
At this time CICD hosted dance masterclasses with Indian gurus; we see photographs of the Late Pandit Birju Vibhushan Maharaj and the Late Pandita Rohini Bhate, two Indian expert teachers who came to Leicester.
Brief clip of Aditi Mangaldas masterclass (date stamped 4.12.2008).
Meera Patel is the next alumni student to feature in this film. Meera introduces herself as a Kathak dance artist, born in Leicester, now based in London. She started learning Kathak at CICD when she was 7 years old and continued studying there till she was 18 and went to university.
In 2012 CICD and Nilima Devi was awarded with a ‘Cultural Champions’ award from Jaguar Rover. We see a brief shot of a certificate commemorating this honour.
Kesha Raithatha and Aakash Odedra - Karman Project Launch Performance - 2012
One of the dancers from the above video, Alumni student Kesha Raithatha addresses her contribution to Nilima Devi. She describes how special their relationship has been, seeing Ms. Devi as a godmother and parent figure, nurturing her talent and creativity.
In 2013 Nilima Devi received an MBE for her services to Indian Dance in the UK. We see a photograph of Ms. Devi with her MBE, and another of her receiving her award from Prince Charles.
We then see a photograph of a Lifetime Achievement Award given to Ms. Devi from the Leicestershire Asian Business Association.
CICD alumni Karishma Vora talks about her Kathak training so far, pieces she’s performed, and how Nilima Devi’s encouragement and kind words have helped her.
Karishma Vora - Dancing at ‘Tattva’. A solo performance.
Stills and videos from CICD’s online archival project 'Abhilekh'. This Heritage Lottery funded project was set up to document the resources gathered by CICD over the decades.
Also supported by The Heritage Lottery fund, the CICD costume archive project ‘Poshak Puralek’ ran from 2018 - 2020. Stills from the archive are followed by Nilima Devi talking about the costume project’s legacy - a selection of costumes will be kept as an historical archive at Leicester’s New Walk Museum.
Video message from CICD alumni student Chadni Premgi. Chadni introduces herself, stating that she’s been dancing with CICD and Nilima Devi for 12 years. She talks about the great learning experience she’s had in terms of communication, confidence, and teamwork.
Before the pandemic CICD developed the Swasthaya Project, a health and wellbeing project for women. The project was taken online during the pandemic and became very successful. We see shots of promotional material for online meetings.
Pancham Online Seminar by Dr. Padma Subramanium
To celebrate their 40th anniversary, CICD have created the ‘Uttsav’ project, which consists of a series of online lectures which were shown during the pandemic.
Deepam - Digital Ramayan'
During the 2020 lockdown CICD created the Deepam digital project, based on the story of the Ramayan. We see a brief clip, featuring cartoon illustrations and simple animation.
Finally, Ms. Devi talks about the Parampara film itself and adds that CICD are compiling a written archive of people’s memories of Indian dance in Leicester. Final montage of stills: Late Pandit Sundarlal Gangani; Padmashree Guru Kumudini Lakhia; Late Pandit Durgalal; Late Gopi Krishna; Late Pandita Rohini Bhate; Nilima Devi MBE
Artistic Director: Nilima Devi MBE
Memory Assistants: Andreea Ghervan, Sarriea Din, Priti Raithatha
Voiceover Production: Ian Whittaker
Admin & Technical Assistant: Talesha Chauhan
Memory Assistant & Social Media Manager: Sneya Rajani
Volunteer: Milan Pujara
Music by Roopa Panesar
Director and Editor: Kuldeep Goswami
A special thank you to all our alumni students for your contributions.
Nayana Whittaker, Priti Raithatha, Gita Lakhani, Roshan Datye, David Miodrag, Nalini Toshniwal , Sheetal Purohit, Aakash Odedra, Shivani Satya, Kesha Raithatha, Jaymini Sahai (Chauhan), Subhash Viman, Priya Pawar, Meera Patel, Jagruti Gohil,Chandni Premgi, Karishma Vora
Online Seminar by Dr. Padma Subramaniam
Our gratitude to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and to our board for their continued support