Bharatanatyam is a classical dance form originating in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Originally known as sadir, it owes its current name to Krishna Iyer and later, Rukmini Devi Arundale. Bharata could refer to either the author of the Natya Shastra or to a legendary king after whom the country of India was supposedly named Bharata and natyam is Sanskrit for the art of dance-drama. It was brought to the stage at the beginning of the 20th century by Krishna Iyer. Bharatanatyam is thought to have been created by the Bharata Muni, a Hindu sage, who wrote the Natya Shastra, the most important ancient treatise on classical Indian dance. It is also called the fifth Veda in reference to the foundation of Hindu religion and philosophy, from which sprang the related South Indian musical tradition of Carnatic music. In ancient times it was performed as dasiattam by mandir (Hindu temple) Devadasi's. Many of the ancient sculptures in Hindu temples are based on Bharata Natyam dance postures. In fact, it is the celestial dancers, apsara's, who are depicted in many scriptures dancing the heavenly version of what is known on earth as Bharatanatyam.
Essential ideas
Bharatanatyam is the manifestation of the South Indian idea of the celebration of the eternal universe through the celebration of the beauty of the material body. In Hindu mythology the whole universe is the dance of the Supreme Dancer, Nataraja, a name for Lord Shiva, the Hindu ascetic yogi and divine purveyor of destruction of evil.
Bharatanatyam is considered to be a fire-dance, being the mystic manifestation in the human body of the metaphysical element of fire, is one of the five major styles that include Odissi(element of water), and Mohiniattam (element of air). The movements of an authentic Bharatanatyam dancer resemble the movements of a dancing flame.
Contemporary Bharatanatyam is practiced as Natya Yoga, a sacred Hindu meditational tradition by a few orthodox schools. A professional danseuse (patra), according to Abhinayadarpanam (one of the two most authoritative texts on Bharatanatyam), must possess the following qualities. She has to be (1) young, (2) slender, (3) beautiful, (4) with large eyes, (5) with well-rounded breasts, (6) self-confident, (7) witty, (8) pleasing, (9) well aware of when to dance and when to stop, able to follow the flow of songs and music, and to dance to the time (thalam), (10) with splendid costumes, and (11) of a happy disposition.
Local kings often invited temple dancers devadasis to dance in their courts, the ocurrence of which created a new category of dancers and modified the technique and themes of the recitals. By that time, devadasis had already gone from being high-status life-long celibate priestesses (brahmacharya) to being lower-status temple servants who were allowed to have children from priests and later to even prostitution.
Rukmini Devi Arundale raised Bharatanatyam to a puritan art form, divorced from its recently controversial past by "removing objectionable elements" (mostly, the Sringar, or the expressive Tantric elements) from some original styles of Sadir (such as Pandanallur, Tanjore or Thanjavur, Vazhuvoor, Mysore etc.), according to Shri Sankara Menon. Rukmini Devi Arundale founded the school Kalakshetra outside the city of Madras to teach it and to promote other studies in Indian music and art. She was one of first teachers to instruct a few men to perform the dance, which until then was the exclusive domain of women, while men, called Nattuvanars, had only been teaching Bharatanatyam without actually performing it.
At present, Bharatanatyam recitals are usually not performed inside the temple shrine but outside it, and even outside the temple compounds at various festivals. Most contemporary performances are given on the stage with a live ensemble. Learning Bharatanatyam takes 3-15 years. There are dancing institutes in many countries, including India, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, India, and many others. The Technique includes
- abhinaya (mime) - dramatic art of story-telling
- nritta pure dance movements, reflecting different rhythms of the universe
- nritya combination of abhinaya and nrittta
Elements
Although most of the contemporary Bharatanatyam ballets are popularly viewed as a form of entertainment, the Natya Shastra-based dance styles were sacred Hindu ceremonies originally conceived in order to spiritually elevate the spectators. Bharatanatyam proper is a solo dance, with two aspects, lasya, the graceful feminine lines and movements, and tandava (the dance of Shiva), masculine aspect. Typically a performance includes:
The performance concludes with the chanting of a few religious verses as a form of benediction. When a dancer has mastered all the elements of dance, as a coming out performance, he or she generally performs an Arangetram, which everyone in his/her institute attends. After that, he/she is entitled to teach and his/her lessons are finally over.
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