Karachi's Kathak Dancers | AJ Shorts

On any regular Thursday, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s shrine in Southern Pakistan reverberates with Sindhi folk music and hundreds of people dancing. But in February 2017, a suicide bomber attacked the shrine, claiming the lives of 88 people and injuring many more. ISIL claimed responsibility.
In an act of defiance and solidarity, Sheema Kermani travelled to the site a few days after the attack and performed the Dhamall, a form of dance rooted in the promise of spiritual trance. Videos of her performance spread across social media.
Sheema’s journey started long before the attack at the Sufi shrine. Sheema, 67, has championed activism and addressed social issues all her life. She founded the Tehrik-e-Niswaan’ (Movement for Women) in the late 70’s. Together with a group of actors and artists, Sheema went to different neighborhoods of Pakistan and put on a performance centered around the issues affecting that community.
Sheema continues to be a champion of women’s rights, both through performing arts and community outreach.
“Activism. That is what really is important in performing arts. That you provoke people to think. You move them to question their own lives.”
Filmed and directed by Karim Shah
Camera: Hasham Cheema, Andy Jackson
Producer: Andrew Smith
Editor: Andrew Phillips
Executive Producers: Deeyah Khan at Fuuse and Andrew Phillips
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#AJShorts #Karachi #KathakDance

[@PadminiBiswas]

In Chennai, one of our teachers was a Muslim. She was a trained Kathak dancer. Her husband and his family would not let her dance. Finally she had no option but got divorced in order to pursue her dancing career.

[@chaitanyabhargava5634]

I learned kathak for 8 years, Its a way of expressing our love towards god. Kathak is not only for women but only men and Transgenders can learn and perform as well. God bless you mam.

[@AbJuly]

This isn't Kathak, it's mujra. Kathak is derived from the word Katha which loosely translates to "storytelling of God's and scriptures" The various mudras itself have a divine depiction. You can't substract Hinduism out of Kathak and replace it with something else.

[@deepakpradhan9904]

Kathak start with Lord Krishna and Radha Love . This is Dance of Love . Latter in Mughals era It's change a lot in its steps and its music .

[@desmadrezai]

There's actually no verse in Quran forbidding you to dance. It's an form of art, expressing yourself to fullest. Not be ashamed of there bodies. Love your words!

[@rudyboy1690]

Pakistan and India are similar in their hate too. The way she described the atmosphere of Pakistan, for a moment I thought she was talking about India.

[@sidra406]

Amazing crusader..love from India ...she should be invited to India to spread this wonderful message and be part of women empowerment globally

[@chetanmale]

I amazed to see , a country like Pakistan have such people who spreading love & compassion through their dance.

[@AshutoshGuptaiitb]

This is really beautiful. Al-Jazeera is truly amazing in putting stories in front of the world which other media channels never or rarely cover

[@lll2282]

kathak is orginally hindu dance from, started from rass leela hindu folk stories of radha and krishna, and kathak itself is sanskrit word which means story , the sargam and taals used are typical in all hindu classical dance which were orginally temple dance forms around 2500yr old. its funny to see how pakistani reject everything which is hindu and indian yet their entire culture is based on it xd. although in islam gungroo,music,dance are all banned seeing them perform, well thanks for keeping our culture alive haha.

[@PakiPardesia]

I have tears in my eyes. We need this all over the country. Bless you Sheema ji ❤️

[@suhailansari4631]

بہت عمدہ اور عظیم کاوش -

[@Rohan-yz3mp]

Kudos to her and Al Jazeera !

[@meerasharma1010]

Love from India...

[@moopmoopmeepmeep8167]

The dancing throughout the video and particularly at the end is looks so joyful and expressive! It's disgraceful that anyone would be against such beautiful, harmless, and simple enjoyment and expression.

[@suhailansari4631]

I Salute You Mam

[@nhagoldman8230]

Love it ♥️

[@anurakchhettry1140]

Love ❤️ and respect for Pakistan 🇵🇰 always from a Nepali American.

[@my-gc1id]

I love her omg🥺 I want to learn kathak from her

[@chaturbhujbhojwani6117]

Dance is art and it's God gifted.