lucknow the notes of a tanpura fill the air of the classroom which has an assortment of musical instruments lying in its corner a tabla set and a mridangam lie on the other side under the masters expert hands and in the centre is a group of young kathak dancers who perform the dance forms signature spins sometimes an amazing 100 times prompted by their masterjis ek do teen char ek do teen char welcome to the nursery of what could be one of the most emphatic dance forms that the city of nawabs has given the lucknow gharana of kathak which came into existence mainly in the court of nawab wajid ali shah the ruler of avadh in 19th century kathak its exponents say was so powerful that no other dance form posed a challenge to it for a long period its sad that the art form is not appreciated in its place of origin lucknow despite being popular across the globe says eminent kathak dancer birju maharaj he is against distorting the purity of the dance dance schools in up have seen a steady increase in the number of students from abroad they come not only to learn instruments like tabla or dance forms like kathak but also hindustani vocal says kumkum adarsh citys first disciple of legendary kathak exponent lachchu maharaj kumkum adarsh now director of ups only ballet centre the lachchu maharaj ballet centre says that owing to this growing awareness of indian classical music and dance the department is considering collaborations with more foreign universities despite these positives the fact is under the overwhelming influence of modernisation and westernisation all classical dance and art forms are fighting for survival kathak is no exception it has its own special problem too it was associated with courtly life and courtesans during the muslim period to reestablish the glory of this ancient classical dance form is the task of every kathak practitioner i aim to involve more and more young minds and talents from good families to spread awareness about kathak through practice and performance says kumkum who started learning kathak at the age of five the dance style has not changed but with less time and more work the duration has decreased adds kumkum who choreographed the famous sufi number piya haji ali in pure kathak style over the years we have had many students from across the globe we have had students coming to learn tabla and kathak from places like russia and sri lanka however now many are coming here for special credit courses in hindustani classical which is a very positive trend says 50yearold kamlesh dubey who teaches kathak at bhatkhande deemed university dubey says the dance form has surely undergone some changes in the past 30 years earlier parents used to make their children learn this dance as a respect towards it but now many come to learn it to make it their profession and harbour dreams of becoming stars