What is Bharatnatyam dance? Our first impressions something like this….Mudra, ancient, Like Kathak, God dance, Folk dance, It has moves, stories are told, traditional dance, jewellery, different dress and particular makeup, shake hands and legs, statue of Shiva, different Poses, you have Payal, balance, give exams, performances, expressions, involving in it, type of an exercise, practice…
Nandita, a Bharatnatyam dancer, danced on ‘Vandematram’ and the meaning became so easy to understand. Together with reading and dancing a story made it an interesting read. We ended with repeating rhythm with her. She shared, “Bharatnatyam is based on Rhythm (talam). One wears ghoogroos to stay with rhythm. And eye makeup to highlight the expressions. Other is a movement of legs combined with hand gestures”.We pondered “Why do these dance forms evolve?” – To share tradition and culture. Preserve ancient stories. Dance is one form which has a collection of stories and folklore. Dance also helps in understanding the lyrics (Abhinaya). Sometimes one does not need to know the language – we can just what is being expressed understand through watching the dance.
With her we looked at Bharatnatyam in a different perspective.