Born to dance

Indeed Tabassum has her hands full: She teaches at Benuka Lalitkala Kendra, Shristi dance school and the Dhaka City Corporation school in addition to her own school, Nikkan Lalitkala Academy in DOHS Baridhara, where she lives.

This is quite apart from her numerous performances in Dhaka and overseas. Among the laurels that have come her way recently is the enthusiastic response to her Kathak solo dance at the Classical Dance Festival held at Shilpakala Academy. A full hall cheered as she performed a Kathak dance in Chautaal (12 beats). "The audience appreciated my performance, even though it is a difficult taal," asserts Tabassum.

And Tabassum is not purely Dhaka-centric. Last year she conducted a 15-day dance workshop in Bandarban, organised by Shilpakala Academy. "It was a chance for indigenous people to learn Kathak and folk dance. About 40-50 people participated in the workshop," says Tabassum. After the workshop, she gave a performance for her students, while the latter performed on prize distribution and certificate-giving day.

Another landmark was when she went to Sri Lanka as part of a government delegation at a SAARC cultural programme. Likewise, she cites the case of a private tour to Switzerland in 1996.

Tabussam's CV is impressive by any yardstick. After her HSC from Kendriya College, Dhaka, she completed five years training in folk dance from Jhankar Lalitkala Academy, Dhaka in 1984. Then she began learning pure Kathak dance under the guidance of Syed Abul Kalam from 1985. Next on the cards was a one year training in Kathak from Pandit Sunderlal Gangani while studying in MS University, Vadodara, India. To cap it all, she bagged an Indian government scholarship to do her three- year diploma (honours) in Kathak from the Delhi Kathak Kendra under the aegis of Guru Munna Lal Shukla. Here she also had the opportunity to come in contact with the famous Kathak dancer Pandit Birju Maharaj. Finally, she completed a two-year post diploma in Kathak and one year teachers training course from the same institute in 1994.

India has been a major stop for Tabassum. She has done choreographies of Pandit Birju Maharaj, Guru Munna Lal Shukla and Aditi Mangaldas, among others. Tabasuum cites a few examples, such as Ang Mukti, Mughal Darbari, Kumar Sambhar and Roopmati Baz Bahadur.

Tabassum is keen to target the economically deprived sections of the community. In her own school, she eschews fees for those who can't afford them. " Often this group is highly dedicated," she says. In the low income category is her 11-year-old maid, Mona who thoroughly enjoys dance and can be seen doing dance steps while working.

One of Tabassum's dreams is to run a school with residential facilities for outstation students from far off places such as Barisal and Chittagong. In the meanwhile, she remains optimistic about the future of Kathak in Bangladesh and believes it will go from strength to strength.