Understanding Bharatnatyam...

I know everyone has a different perspective of dance, but to me this is what dance is about.

There are so many aspects to Bharatnatyam; it takes more than just mere reading to understand what each signifies. As a child, to me Bharatnatyam was synonymous with simply dance and any form of dance was ‘fun’. Today, as I discover more about this ‘dance’, I come 1 step closer to understanding its true grandeur.

But how can dance be more than just dance? be passion, emotions, expression? A pathway and connection to God? You must be joking.

Maybe not.

The dancer on stage depicts from Gods to slaves, devotees to villains, feeling not from her face but expressing from deep within her heart. She feels the pain of each character, the excitement of the victory, the anger of the asuras and the shame of the villain. She is the embodiment of the divine and yet she is scornful evil mind. How can she do it if she isn’t passionate about it?

To be one with God, you need to be God, the dancer gets the delightful opportunity to feel close to God every time she enacts a celestial character or a God/Goddess’ story. She feels God in her, she transforms into God on stage.

Dancing requires a lot of physical discipline, control of the body and balance, at the same time co-ordination of the hand, eyes, foot and neck. Be it whichever form of dance, classical or otherwise, if any of this is not developed, the dance will lose its grace and charm, the dancer comes across as sloppy. It’s a discipline of the mind, because it involves concentration, creativity and a constant thirst for learning.

21 years of dancing, but I am only a 5-year-old dancer because I started realizing its value and magnificence only 5 years ago. The more I understand Bharatnatyam, I mature as a dancer as does my dancing. Yet, there is so much yet to know and understand.