Bharatanatyam

This classical dance form originated from the state of Tamil Nadu It has its inspirations from the sculptures of the ancient temple of Chidambaram located near Pondicherry
Bharatanatyam, as the name depicts is the combination of; Bha Ra Ta

Bha Means Bhava - Expressions Ra Means Raga - Music Ta Means Tala - Rhythm
Traditionally the dance was performed by Devadasis (community of temple dancers) in the ancient temples.

The Devadasis were women who dedicated their lives to serving the temple deity as dancers and musicians and their performances were an inherent part of the elaborate temple and court rituals.

Famous Bharatanatyam Dancers

The modern day Bharatanatyam was given the formal shape by these four Nattuvanars (widely known as Tanjaore Bandhu) Chinnaiya, Ponaiyah, Sivanandam, Vadivelu

Balasarswati

Rukmini Devi

Mrinalini Sarabhai

The Basics Of Bharatanatyam (3N)

Bharatanatyam is generally referred to have three distinct streams or aspects: Nritta, Nrittya and Natya

Nritta is pure dance or sequences of dance that are non interpretative in nature. This means that these steps, movements or gestures are not meant to convey any message or thought. They are primarily meant to add beauty to the dance form

Nrittya on the other hand is an interpretative dance and involves a lot of sentiments, emotions and description. The gestures in this stream convey messages like depicting a king, indicating that it is morning time etc. This consists of leg, hand, neck, head and eye movements to convey the message.

Natya is dance drama and its main technique is Abhinaya. It involves acting out a story for the audience using expressions. Also the actors may dress like the character. Natya is usually performed with a mythologial theme, like on the stories of Ramayana or Krishnaleela, etc.

Namaskar A Traditional way to start

Before starting the sessions, we shall always do the NAMASKAR. Here the dancer bows down in respect to the following:

Musicians Stage God Guru Audience The Namaskar is done both before the dance and at the end of it.

Adavu (The initial steps)

The basic positions are:

ARAIMANDIHalf Seated Position.

SAMAPADAM - Legs Together

MANDIFull Seated Position

More about Adavus

The word Adavu means basic step Adavus forms the ABCs of pure dancing(Nritta) in bharatanatyam. Just like a combination of alphabets give words and thereafter sentences, adavus are combined to form a dance sequence in Bharatanatyam.

An Adavu is the combination of:

Position of the legs (Sthanakam) Posture of our standing (Mandalam) Walking movement (Chari) Hand gestures (nritta hastas) All the four done in synchronization with Rhythm or Tala is ADAVU. Every Adavu will have certain number of steps and would have a BOL or syllable like Tai Ya- Tai Hi.

Following are the Ten important Adavus

Tatta Adavu Natta Adavu Visharu Adavu Tattimitti Adavu Tirumanam Adavu Murka Adavu Jati Adavu Kuditamitta Adavu Mandi Adavu Sarikal Adavu