Hey guys ! Please take your time and enjoy reading this blog. Please feel free to click on the pictures to enlarge. For my Indian friends that are interested in culture and dance. I promise this blog will satisfy you in more of the Indian Classical Dance which will be called " BHARATANATYAM ". That I very well guarantee ! :)
Firstly, Bharatanatyam is a major genre of Indian Classical Dance that originated in the Hindu Temple of Tamil Nadu and neighboring regions. Traditionally, Bharatanatyam has been a solo dance that was performed exclusively by women, and expressed.
Nataraja ( the lord of dance ) is a depiction of the Hindu god Shiva as the cosmic ecstatic dancer. His dance is called Tandavam, depending on the context of the dance. Nataraja is a well known sculptural symbol in India and popularly used as a symbol of Indian culture, in particular as one of the finest illustrations of Hindu art.
Bharatanatyam style is noted for its fixed upper torso, legs bent and knees flexed out combined with spectacular footwork, a sophisticated vocabulary of sign language based on gestures of hand, eyes and face muscles. The dance is accompanied by music and a singer, and typically a guru is present as the director and conductor of the performance. The dance has traditionally been a form of an interpretive narration of mythical legends and spiritual ideas from the Hindu text.
The gestures used in Bharatanatyam are called Hasta ( or Mudras ). These symbol are of three types :
- Asamyuta hastas ( single hand gestures )
- Samyuta hastas ( two hand gestures )
- Nrrta hastas ( dance hand gestures )
In nritya stage of Bharatnatyam, these symbols set in a certain sequence become sentences with meaning, emotions expressed through facial expressions and other aspects of abhinaya.
An expression through gesture in Bharatanatyam
The accompanying music to Bharatanatyam is in the Carnatic style of South India, as is the recitation and chanting. The vocalist is called the nattuvanar, typically also the conductor of entire performance, who may be the guru of the dancer and may also be playing cymbals or one of the musical instruments. The instruments used include the mridangam ( drum ), nagaswaram ( long pipe horn made from a black wood ), nattuvangam ( cymbals ), the flute, volin and veena.
The costumes of a Bharatanatyam dancer resembles a Tamil Hindu's bridal dress. It consist of a tailor fitted brilliantly coloured Saree, with a special pleated cloth stitched that falls in front and opens like a hand fan when the dancer flexes their knees or performs a footwork. The saree is worn in a special way, wrapping the back and body contour tightly, past one shoulder its and then held by a jewelry belt at the waist.
This is typically adorned with jewelry, outlining the dancers head or hair, on ear, nose and neck. The dancers face has appropriate make up, eyes lined and ringed by collyrium which help viewers see the eye expressions. Therefore, the hair is tied up in the traditional way often braided in fragrant flowers.
To the ankles, they wrap one or more leather straps jingling bells. The fingers, feet and toes outlines may be partially coloured red with henna, a costume tradition that helps the audience more easily view the hand gestures and feet.
This will be a full performance by a dancer with all the expressions, gestures and also hastas.
I hope this blog has fulfilled you with all the information that is relevant for this Indian Classical Dance " BHARATANATYAM ". I really hope you have enjoyed reading this blog. Thank you :)
