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This is a video of me performing Bharatanatyam in one of the shows organized by Darpana Academy in Natarani Amphitheatre. I am the one in center wearing a pink dress.

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Darpana Academy organized the event in which various classical dances were performed and one of them being Bharatanatyam.

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My journey as a Bharatanatyam dancer.

Since I was in 5th grade, I use to watch all the dance performances and I wanted to do Bharatanatyam, so I joined the classes at Darpana Academy which is very famous academy of Mallika Sarabhai who is considered as one of the most famous and respectful Bharatanatyam dancers in India. Something in this dance form always sparked joy in me when I was performing. I have done this dance form for 7 years and it has taught me a lot about my culture, my dance style, my expressions and much more. Through this dance I was able to improve my non-verbal communication as there are a lot of expressions and gestures and to convey a story in dance, it is important to engage the audience and make them understand the story that we, as a dancers are trying to convey. There are a lot of hardships at the time of learning the dance and sometimes body aches but at the end of the dance, I always feel rejuvenated and better. I have also taken part in a lot of stage shows at Darpana Academy which helped me to boost my confidence. Darpana Academy has helped me a lot as they even organize other artist’s show and we as a student can learn from them. Overall it has been a great journey for me to be a Bharatanatyam dancer and represent my culture. 

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This is ghunghroo, an anklet wore at the time of dance and another is an Indian musical instrument called mrudangam played at the time of performing dance.

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Music and Culture

The Carnatic music is used in Bharatantyam. Talams in the carnatic music plays a vital role as during dance performance the singer has to match the mrudangam and the dancer’s beat. Mrudangam is an Indian musical instrument in Carnatic music.  Even the Talam is based on the beats from which the most common is Aditalam (8 beats) (Anjali, 2014). This dance form connects to the ancient culture very well and even represents Indian culture very well. In Bharatnatyam, at the time of performance the traditional Indian clothes are put on by the dancers with the ancient silver or gold ornaments in neck, ear, hands and even in the hair as seen in the picture. There is another ornament named ghunghroo wore in the feet which is the musical anklet tied to the feet of dancers in which many small metallic bells are stung together. This all appearance of the dancer is a part of Indian culture. This dance is also very well connected to the culture as in the dance, the ancient Hindu mythological stories of Lord Krishna, Rama, Kartikeya are represented through the hand gestures and facial expression along with the dance. Nritya is a combination of Nritta and Natya. In nritya, meaning is conveyed through stylized hand gestures, facial expressions, mime and action; these in turn augment the emotions and sentiments conveyed by the dancer (Kothari 1979b:71). Other than this, there are also some of the famous Bharatnatyam dancers in India who increased the value of this dance form by their immense talents such as Mrinalini Sarabhai who is no more but helped to grow this dance a lot and receive several awards, Gopi Krishna, Rukmini Devi, Yamini Krishnamurthy, Padma subhramanyam, Mallika Sarabhai, etc.

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This dance is performed in which variety of body postures and hand gestures are covered with intense form of dance.

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About the dance

Bharatnatyam is a very particular dance which includes particular body postures, hand gestures and facial expression. The time period to complete it is 7 years and after doing this dance for 7 years, there is visharad in which there is a huge stage show organized and a dancer performs all the dance which are learned during the span of 7 years. There are 3 main posture which should be maintained all the time namely samapadam, aramandi and murumandi. There are various hand gestures which needs to be remembered and facial expression which are used to display abhinaya(acting) in the dance. One another thing about this classical dance form which I find very unique and respectful is that, the dancers always perform Namashkar before starting the dance and after ending the dance. This Namashkar is done mainly to apologise the Dharti mata (goddess land) that the dancers are going to tap on the floor harshly and it will hurt them so dancers do namashkar at starting and ending of the dance.

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Introduction

Bharatnatyam is one the most famous classical dance form in India and one of the oldest dance form. This dance was originated in Southern India in Tamil Nadu. The Natya Shashtra by Bharat Muni and Nandikeshwar are considered as original source of Bharatnatyam. It was originally a temple dance for women but it is also performed by men and in other places representing Indian culture. Bharatnatyam is often used to express Hindu religion ancient stories through dance, hand gestures, facial expressions and body postures.  

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The hand gestures in Bharanatyam are important as it tries to explain the situation to the audience and body posture matters as it is an integral part of the dance.

References

Anjali. (2014, May 12). Carnatic music in dance. Online Bharatanatyam.

Kothari, Dr. Sunil (1979b) “Nritya: Hastas.” In BHARAT NATYAM, Indian Classical Dance Art, by Sunil Kothari (Mumbai: J.JBhabha, for MARG Publications)

IndianRaga. (2017). Shiv Shambho.