Descriptive Writing

Descriptive Writing

by Hemlata Sharma -
Number of replies: 1

In this descriptive passage, I would like to focus on the journey of Pandit Birju Maharaj. Birju Maharaj is the leading exponent of kathak dance, an Indian classical dance form that emphasizes on rhythmic footwork and mimelike gesture. He is the only son of Acchan Maharaj, the torchbearer of Handia (Rikhipur), Allahabad Kalka-Bindadin gharana of Kathak dance in India. His efforts for taking Kathak to a new level has glorified kathak all over the world. He devoted his whole life to master the nuances of Kathak. He is known for his facial expressions and feet movements. People consider him as epitome of Kathak. 

Birju Maharaj started his career as a teacher when he was just 13 years old at Sangeet Bharati. After a successful start, he went on to teach at the famous Bharatiya Kala Kendra. Impressed with his work, the administration gave him the opportunity to head a team of teachers at the Kathak Kendra, a unit of Sangeet Natak Akademi. He served as the head of faculty at Kathak Kendra for many years and got his retirement in 1998 at the age of sixty. Though he retired from his position as the head of faculty at Kathak Kendra, his passion for kathak remains the same and soon he started his own dance school. He even gave beautiful performances after retirement. 

One of his recent performances includes his first New York performance at Symphony Space in 2012. He was nearly 72 when he performed in New York but after his performance, his age seemed irrelevant. According to the New York Times, “His dancing is a two-for-one deal: his bare feet solve complex math problems, coaxing from skin on the floor and the bells around his ankles as much expressive variation in tone and volume as a tabla drum; his upper body and face, just as precise, tell stories, incarnating gods and animals.”  His performance does not need any language, people in the audience could interpret the dance without knowing the words he was using. He did stars sparkling in the sky. He did a mother bird feeding her chicks. He did lions and cows and deer. Everything could be read clearly by the audience. Though there were other three fine and young dancers with Birju Maharaj at Symphany Space, he stole the show. His performance at Symphony and other performances in the past proves his unforgettable association with Kathak. 


In reply to Hemlata Sharma

Re: Descriptive Writing

by Natalia San Antonio -
***I decided to copy and paste your passage and comment on it throughout! (The words/phrases I liked have ** around them because it won't let me highlight them and my general comments are at the end :)

In this descriptive passage, I would like to focus on the journey of Pandit Birju Maharaj. Birju Maharaj is the leading exponent of kathak dance, an Indian classical dance form that emphasizes on *rhythmic* footwork and *mimelike* gesture. He is the only son of Acchan Maharaj, the torchbearer of Handia (Rikhipur), Allahabad Kalka-Bindadin gharana of Kathak dance in India. His efforts for taking Kathak to a new level has *glorified* kathak all over the world. He devoted his whole life to master the nuances of Kathak. He is known for his facial expressions and feet movements. People consider him as *epitome* of Kathak.

****What types of facial expressions is he known for? Maybe you could be a little more descriptive here.


Birju Maharaj started his career as a teacher when he was just 13 years old at Sangeet Bharati. After a successful start, he went on to teach at the famous Bharatiya Kala Kendra. Impressed with his work, the administration gave him the opportunity to head a team of teachers at the Kathak Kendra, a unit of Sangeet Natak Akademi. He served as the head of faculty at Kathak Kendra for many years and got his retirement in 1998 at the age of sixty. Though he retired from his position as the head of faculty at Kathak Kendra, his passion for kathak remains the same and soon he started his own dance school. He even gave beautiful performances after retirement.

One of his recent performances includes his first New York performance at Symphony Space in 2012. He was nearly 72 when he performed in New York but after his performance, his age seemed irrelevant. According to the New York Times, “His dancing is a two-for-one deal: his bare feet *solve complex math problems,* coaxing from skin on the floor and the bells around his ankles as much *expressive variation in tone and volume as a tabla drum*; his upper body and face, just as precise, tell stories, *incarnating gods and animals.*” His performance does not need any language, people in the audience could interpret the dance without knowing the words he was using. He did *stars sparkling in the sky*. He did a *mother bird feeding her chicks*. He did *lions and cows and deer*. Everything could be read clearly by the audience. Though there were other three fine and young dancers with Birju Maharaj at Symphany Space, he stole the show. His performance at Symphony and other performances in the past proves his unforgettable association with Kathak.




****This sounds really interesting! I enjoyed reading it. I bolded words and phrases from your writing that I thought were particularly descriptive. While this background knowledge is important for the reader, I might suggest cutting some of it out of your description and instead adding a section of one of Birju Maharaj’s dances and describing it movement by movement (his facial expressions, his head/arm movements, what he is wearing, the music, etc.). That way, it will provide the reader (who maybe has not seen his dancing) more of an idea of his style. For example, I thought that your interpretations of him like “stars sparkling in the sky” or “lions and cows and deer” were very figurative, but what types of steps did he perform so that he embodied a star or a lion? Was it his high jumps or turns or arm movements? Or even what types of costumes did he wear in the piece to help the audience believe he was someone else? Please let me know if you have any questions about my comments!