AFTER astonishing Dublin audiences with their skills in Kathak dance last, year, the Mishras were back in the Edmund Burke Hall of TCD on Friday, leading the Dhwani Group in a Hindu-Muslim, classical-dance style of story-telling.

Appearing in all but four of the dances, Vaswati Mishra choreographed the whole programme.

The opening Kirtan, with Daniel Freddy in the Krishna role, emphasised the mudra or hand movement, and was followed by a repeat of Jugal Bandi, seen last year, with Vaswati and Krishan Mishra trying to outdo each other in virtuosity, spinning like tops and performing the complex footwork which is believed to be the origin of zapateado, brought to Spain from northern India 1,000 years ago. Unfortunately the front row of unoccupied seats hid the dancers feet when they were downstage.

Other repeats from last year were Panghat - Leela, with Young Krishna teasing the Gopis (milkmaids) and Phaag, with Krishan, Daniel and four girls celebrating the colour festival of Holi.

The stage seemed too shallow for Mughal Court dance Andaz, while Taraana had Vaswati, with her student, marking the song rhythms with pirouettes. Meera, a dramatic solo in which she played three roles, portrayed the devotion of Mirabai for Krishna, picking flowers and weaving them into garland offerings, before withstanding even torture.

Four different dance styles, including my favourite syllable counting, were contrasted in Chaturang, while the two men in Geet-O-Padesh enacted an excerpt from the Bhagavagita, portraying both warlike Pandavas and the noble Krishna. The costumes were splendid and colourful throughout, especially in the stick# dance which ended the delightful evening, though I missed having the musicians live on stage.