Aditi Mangaldas She is championing Kathak with a unique perspective on storytelling and dance.

Relying on movement and emotion, Aditi Mangaldas has championed storytelling and choreography, winning her applause, recognition and awards worldwide. A trained Kathak dancer and choreographer, Aditi has a unique perspective on ‘katha’ and the artistry of dance, making her performances evocative and mesmerising. She has won prestigious awards: the UK Theatre Award 2024, National Dance Award UK thrice and the Gujarat Sangeet Natak Academy Award.

The technique, graceful movements and rhythmic footwork of Kathak transcending into Contemporary Dance is championed by Aditi and brought to the audience in a creative and thought-provoking fashion with her production, WITHIN [presented by KNMA at Kala Academy, New Delhi]. The production was the embodiment of visual storytelling, artistry at its finest and pulsating movement.
Aditi heads the Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company and the Drishtikon Dance Foundation. We talked to her about her art, practice and journey.

What changes have you seen in your dance practice over the years?
I begin with one of the most clichéd and yet most truthful facts of life... change is the only constant! For me, dance is like a living entity. It is the breath that sustains my creative being and imagination. So, it would be unthinkable that it does not change as time goes by.  It would be difficult to pinpoint what has changed. At times, the change is so minute and delicate that unless one focuses, it is hard to notice, and sometimes so immense, as though a tsunami has descended upon the creative process. It is a total of all these minute and major changes that make up the life of my dance.
If dance does not age with us, then how can dance be part of every pore of us, who are organic beings that are constantly evolving, changing and ageing? Undoubtedly, great artistry brings with it some moments that are inherited, at times untouched by the past or the future. But when danced in the moment, they become the moment! But these moments have also traversed the same journey as us... the dancer has traversed the same journey as the dancer! And thus, has to have changed. 

Has dance always been a form of self-expression for you? How did you develop your contemporary practice that is based on Kathak?
I cannot remember a time when I was not dancing! Dancing to me is like my second breath, constantly ebbing and flowing with the pulse of my own life. But there were, as in any artist, life milestones and crossroads. Early in my career, there were many subjects and concepts that I was completely immersed in and yet was unable to share the same with my understanding of the form of Kathak. So, the dilemma always confronted me - should I ignore this creative impulse or find the vocabulary that would best communicate these concepts? 
 Though I have been a Kathak dancer all my life, it was these questions that eventually compelled me to explore what I term today as my ‘contemporary dance based on Kathak’. If I plant a seed of Kathak and water the same with the wider Kathak sensibility, a Kathak tree emerges. If, on the other hand, I water it with contemporary sensibilities, movement, text, music - a very different tree emerges. Both rooted in Kathak but growing towards a different sky.
 
What is your process of developing a performance? Do emotion and personal experience factor into the process? 
For me, the only way to develop a performance is to get completely immersed in it and let that concept be completely immersed in yourself. Get pregnant, and even though the gestation period is much longer, let every impulse, image, sound, and emotion be geared towards the development of that creative seed that is growing within you. Most of my work starts on an autobiographical peg, but the journey is parabolic, so when it is shared, my endeavour has been that the work journey’s far greater than my small personal narrative…. into a bigger universal experience. 
 
Do you develop your dance routine in isolation or with your team?
Each artist has different ways of nurturing the seed that is within. For me, I develop any new work very much in isolation. It is after much churning, many internal dialogues, post which I start dialogues with my collaborators, and finally it goes on to the studio floor. I have invariably noticed that often after this initial internal process, a three-pronged journey ensues. The internal dialogue, the collaborative dialogue and the danced dialogue in the studio start to develop simultaneously. Eventually, the streams meet and hopefully develop into a thriving, gurgling, beautiful river of that work. 

What would you be doing if not for dance? 
That's a really scary question! Honestly, dance has been a part of my life since I was 5. As mentioned earlier, I don't remember a time when I was not dancing, so to visualise my life in the current situation without dance is extremely daunting. But that cannot be a reason not to imagine what life would be, because anything can change at any time - Don’t wait for the clouds to break, don’t brood, but jump out and plant a tree! Don't wait for the mist to clear; step into the fog. If not sight, fragrance will surely guide you. 
 As we traverse this forest of life, don’t let your mind dwell on the knowledge you have of the forest, because in the certainty of that knowledge, you may miss the darting sparrow! So, who knows what I would do!! But I hope that I will catch a glimpse of the darting sparrow.
 
What advice would you give to young dance professionals just starting their careers?
 First and foremost, there are no shortcuts! Without complete dedication, passion, abandon, love and an intense sense of humility and gratitude, don't enter this river of creativity. You could frolic and bathe in a pond - and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that but to discover the magic and beauty of the arts, with their complete requirement of rigour and vigour, full emersion is so very necessary. And with this let there always be doubt, a questioning, an inquiring mind/body and heart - because certainty is a nail in the coffin of art. Take a dance plunge! At worst, you will come up spluttering for breath, or on the other hand, you may find gems at unimaginable depths, unseen from the surface. Dance with courage and abandon. 

Words Samiksha Sharma 
29.05.2025