Photo by Brooke Duthie
When Farah Yasmeen Shaikh is dancing, it’s hard to know where to look. With her colorful skirts swirling, her long braid whipping with each turn, her feet moving in almost impossibly fast rhythms while her hands and fingers draw counter-rhythms in the air and her eyes gaze with a mesmerizing up-tilt, the American-born dancer is a master of the classical Indian dance form Kathak. But what does it all mean? Shaikh will address this and other questions after her traditional solo dance at the Richmond Folk Festival performed with four musicians.
“Sharing cultural arts forms in context is very important,” she says.
The Folk Festival takes place on and around Brown’s Island Oct. 12-14.
