Aastha Dance Classes – Ek murti
Peas in pods school, Ek murti , Teach, near Cherry County, zone-4, Amrapali Dream Valley, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201318, India
https://aasthadanceclasses.com/
Aastha Dance Classes – Ek Murti (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar / Aurangabad, Maharashtra) was founded in 2014 by Smruti Pore and Mahima Bansal, two Kathak disciples of Pt. Rajendra Chaturvedi who wanted to give their adopted city the same discipline, beauty and joy they had felt at the National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai. They rented a modest 600-square-foot first-floor studio above a saree-shop in Ek-murti Chowk, whitewashed the walls, installed full-length mirrors along one side and a wireless PA that can hold 400 GB of rhythm loops. They hung a brass lamp in front of the small Nataraja murti that had travelled in Smruti’s handbag from Kerala, and—keeping the syllable-less title “Aastha” so that every style could feel at home—opened enrolment for Kathak, Bharatnatyam, Contemporary, semi-classical Bolly-fusion and Garba-Raas.
Today the room is open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week. Classes run in 55-minute capsules; small batches of twelve allow Smruti to correct hasta mudrā angles with the lightest pressure of her fingertips, while Mahima’s metallic laughter cues children to drop their shoulders and find the rebound in a tatkar. A Ganesh-Korvai in teen-taal (16 beats) is often the warm-up: a sonic map of 1–2–3 that helps beginners feel the symmetry before language is added. On Thursdays the carpet is rolled up and rows of ankle bells (250-gram regulation weight) clack like summer rain; on Saturdays father-daughter duos rehearse garba for the Navratri grounds at Aurangabad CIDCO, live dhol transmitted via a Blackstar amp that almost becomes the eleventh dancer.
Theory is not forgotten. The low bookshelves contain dog-eared volumes by Acharya K. C. Mahadevan, Kanak Rele and DVD archives of Birju Maharaj, but students also analyse Jatin-Lalit baraat songs and the harmonic minor lifts in “Malhari.” Every quarter the studio hosts “Rang-Sangam,” an open-mic evening where parents sip cutting-chai while teenagers perform newly-choreographed Tarana against the backdrop of the Gul Mandi skyline, the tinkling notes dissolving into the city’s evening horns.
Successes of the school spill onto concrete: 13-year-old Yash Gore’s contemporary piece about the Ajanta caves won Gold at the 2022 Maharashtra Youth Fest; sisters Aru and Arushi Jain took Kathak Grade-8 distinction from the Prayag Sangeet Samiti in 2023 and now assist with abhinaya drills. Fees stay seasonal, and Smruti quietly waives half-tuition for girls from labour colonies behind the railway tracks. The brass lamp still burns every evening, its flame mirrored fourfold in the polished floor so that every girl who lands a perfect chakkar sees herself multiplied—proof, the teachers say, that rhythm can give a small room infinite room to breathe.
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- Published: August 10, 2025
