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Nahid Siddiqui

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Nahid Siddiqui
Born1956 (age 67–68)
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
NationalityBritish Pakistani
Education

* Happy Home School

Occupation(s)Kathak choreographer, dancer
Years active1970s – present
OrganizationsNahid Siddiqui Foundation
ParentTalat Siddiqui (mother)
Relatives
Awards
Websitenahidsiddiqui.com

Nahid Siddiqui (born 1956[1]) is an exponent of Kathak dance.[2][3]

She has been a disciple of two great teachers: Maharaj Kathak (Pakistan) and Birju Maharaj (India). She has against all odds and challenges, spent decades of her life breathing hope, vitality, and exuberance to a dance form that has received very little state patronage and support. Through sheer perseverance, she has not only earned the reputation of a prolific artist but has also singlehandedly set a formidable standard of quality, a refined sensibility of aesthetics, and an intricate system of technical expertise that has received much acclaim all over the world. She is acknowledged for contributing her own style, technique, and expression (Gharana), which is imbued and informed by Islamic and Sufi aesthetics, sensibilities, and longing for ultimate union.[4] Siddiqui is ever-evolving her craft as she performs at major venues, festivals, and television worldwide.[5][6]

She has been the recipient of several awards, including Pakistan’s Pride of Performance, the UK’s British Cultural Award, and the International Dance Award.she is the main character of the spirtual novel “sitaroon Bhari raat”( The stary night) which is written by Canadian Pakistani writer Waseem Raza Syed.[7][8]

Early life

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Nahid was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in 1956. She is the eldest daughter of actor Talat Siddiqui[9] and Mohammad Bashir Siddiqui.[1] At the age of 3, she moved to Karachi with her parents. Her parents enrolled her in Happy Home School, Karachi. In the late 1960s, she moved to Lahore with her parents and joined the University of Home Economics formerly known as Home Economics College.

Life and Works

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It was under the tutelage of the distinguished teacher Baba Maharaj, and later, Pandit Birju Maharaj, that Nahid Siddiqui, embarked on a journey to delve deep into Kathak, becoming the only Pakistani to extensively explore the physical and theoretical nuances of this ancient dance form. Nahid started learning Kathak from Baba Maharaj Ghulam Hussain Kathak in 1971. In 1976, Nahid Siddiqui had the honor to travel with the entourage of former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and represent Pakistan as a Kathak dancer, embarking on a journey that would make her strive to root and evolve Kathak in Pakistan.[10] She has performed in the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Morocco, and Jordan and has mesmerized and delighted audiences that have often comprised international dignitaries. Some of them were the Late Shah of Iran and Khanum Farah Diba, Chancellor Schmidt of West Germany, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada, King Hussein of Jordan, and King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan. Payal, a dynamic thirteen-episode visual encyclopedia, aired in 1978, to date remains the only such endeavor in Pakistan in which Nahid Siddiqui collaborated with classical musicians, creating a masterpiece, which shed light on Kathak in a society where there was very little awareness of this art. Payal, however, was banned and taken off air by the military regime after its sixth episode was aired on TV. Nahid Siddiqui has since been symbolic of resistance against extremist ideologies, beautifully using her art to exemplify Islamic culture in a way not seen before. This production is now viewed and studied by ardent Kathak dancers around the world. In England, where she lived in exile, Nahid Siddiqui inculcated the paradigms of Islamic geometry, Sufi poetry, Persian, Arab and Turkic influences in Kathak. Through the in-depth understanding of Islamic geometry, Nahid Siddiqui has greatly enhanced the visual vocabulary of Kathak by striving to find the perfect posture and body alignment to paint evocative lines and compositions. She is one of the very few Kathak dancers' who is renowned for her finesse and immense sophistication in movement. While in England, she provided her students a different perspective of Kathak, which was and is still not being explored in India. In England, she became the first Pakistani to teach at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, (Indian Cultural Centre). She began her teaching career at the Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham. She launched her dance company and since then has continued to produce professional dancers, some of whom have gone on launch their own companies in England and around the world. Those worth mentions include Late Jahanara Akhlaq, Sonia Kundi, and Simmi Gupta. It is noteworthy to mention that while she was teaching dance in England, she received patronage from the Art Council from 1990 onwards and trained many dancers of western descent. In times of violence, in a country facing an identity crisis, where ancient cultural teachings have been left to decay, she revisited her roots in Pakistan to do her bidding. By showing young Pakistanis the beauty of the ancient arts in a modern and free environment, she gives nourishment to a true culture of the East. Unlike general Kathak endeavors in Pakistan, her technique has a proper curriculum, which in its physical aspect is as strict as ballet. Nahid Siddiqui has been holding lecture demonstrations and workshops in Pakistan. Since 2005, she has taught Kathak at the privately run Lahore Chitrakar and in the department of Musicology at the National College of Arts, Lahore. She has also worked extensively with the prestigious Agha Khan University in Karachi and held workshops there.[11] She continues to live in Lahore, Pakistan and keeps dance alive by holding routine performances for the young audience. She is running her own organization named Nahid Siddiqui Foundation, which works for Dance, Yoga, and Music.[12][8][13][14][15][16][17]

Awards & Achievements

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Siddiqui, Nahid". Nahid Siddiqui. Oxford University Press. 10 November 2020. ISBN 978-0-19-517369-7. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  2. ^ "Nahid Siddiqui: A 'katha' of this life". 29 March 2018. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  3. ^ Magazine, Brown Girl (26 October 2016). "Muslims in the Hindu Dancing Arts: A History". India News, Breaking News | India.com. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Global Marriages? How Some Biz Girls Escaped Them! | MISCELLANEOUS - MAG THE WEEKLY". magtheweekly.com. Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  5. ^ "Nahid Siddiqui". Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  6. ^ Rajan, Anjana (15 December 2013). "Inner landscapes". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2020 – via www.thehindu.com.
  7. ^ "Reclaiming space | Special Report | thenews.com.pk". www.thenews.com.pk. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Kathak dance: In the mystical world of Nahid Siddiqui". The Express Tribune. 28 April 2013. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Talat Siddiqui – Cineplot.com". Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  10. ^ "Katha of the Soul – World renowned Kathak dancer Nahid Siddiqui – program at Aga Khan University". 28 March 2007. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Nahid Siddiqui | Special Lecture Series | The Aga Khan University". www.aku.edu. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  12. ^ Rajan, Anjana (15 December 2013). "Inner landscapes". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  13. ^ Siddiqui, Nahid (29 September 2016). "How dance icon Nahid Siddiqui defied a ban on her artform". q (Interview). Interviewed by Candy Palmater. CBC Radio. Archived from the original on 30 September 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  14. ^ "Pursuing Pauses with Patience at Angikam Seminar". The Dance Current - Canada's Dance Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Schedule - BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  16. ^ Ahmed, Shoaib (30 April 2014). "A dancing ovation to Nahid Siddiqui". DAWN.COM. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  17. ^ Vellat, Anuradha (8 November 2020). "Taking the pandemic in their stride". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  18. ^ "Nahid Siddiqui: A 'katha' of this life". The News). 29 March 2018. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  19. ^ "Kathak: The joy of flight". The Tribune). 26 October 2011. Archived from the original on 28 October 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  20. ^ "IAWRT Seminar 2014 HUM GUNAHGAAR". Archive.ORG). 30 June 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  21. ^ "Popular actor sisters of the artist family". IrshadGul). 26 June 2022. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  22. ^ "Alhamra to hold programme for Nahid Siddiqui". The News). 4 April 2021. Archived from the original on 4 April 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  23. ^ "Katha of the Soul – World renowned Kathak dancer Nahid Siddiqui – program at Aga Khan University". IsmailiMail). 19 March 2011. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  24. ^ "Nahid Siddiqui". NoRegime). 28 June 2021. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  25. ^ "Lux Style Awards – A Night To Be Remembered!". The Nation). 22 February 2018. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  26. ^ "Milapfest hosts a successful National Indian Arts Awards third year in a row". Asian Voice). 2 November 2017. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
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