Kaun Gali Gayo Shyaam | Janmashtmi dance | Bhaav in Kathak

On Krishna Janmashtmi, I dance to Krishna on the famous thumri, “Kaun Gali Gayo Shyaam…” expressed as Radha looking for Krishna who would often hide amidst his usual pranks leaving the gopis searching for him ! The repetition of a single poetic line in different vocal expression is matched with delicate expressions of the face and gestures of hands and the body, giving us the scope to express the meaning in various ways, to depict different emotions, going from the literal to metaphorical. Here, Radha looks for Krishna while asking her friends about his whereabouts.. “Kaun gali gayo shyaam…ae ri sakhi…bata de…” She goes on to imagining Krishna being with her, the various ways in which he teases her, only to realise that he is not physically around.