Bharatnatyam

Introduction to Semiotics Bharatanatyam A journey from temples to the proscenium An introduction Bharatanatyam is a Sanskrit word, which per melodic phraseer the leaping of Bharata (India). True to its name, it is 1 of the oldest and most usual trip the light fantastic toe bring ins of India. It originated in the temples of Southern India and was later codified and authenticated as a do artistic creationistic production by the Tanjore Quartet. It is now the most popular Indian separateical dancing and is apprehended serviceman encompassing. Bharatanatyam is a language in itself. a handle Sanskrit language, bharatanatyam follows strict rules and is technic altogethery sound. The grammar of the steps is followed rigorously.It is moved to Carnatic harmony and the mathematical precision of the trip the light fantastic toe equals the Carnatic medicament measure of measure. The three significant ingredients of bharatanatyam be bhava ( whim), raga (music) and taal (rhy thm) governed by Bharata munis Natya Shastra and Nandikeshwars Abhinaya Darpana. Hence, the edition BHAva +RAga (music) +TAla+NATYAM( leap) =Bharatanatyam. The technique and presentation Bharatanatyam in its highest mowork forcet, is the human body of music in a optical earn -Balasaraswati The three major attributes of a Bharatanatyam action argon Nritta (technique), Nritya and Natya (drama).Nritta is pure dance. It is the lawsuit of detention and feet on the rhythm and speed. It is a collage of measured lines, forms and shapes. The exertions, mudras or gestures do not signify anything. Then wherefore nritta? Indian music and dance forms atomic number 18 based on the concept of cyclical rhythm or taal. Various tuneful patterns be woven with the musical notes and rhythmic patterns which can be beautifully punish done nritta. Nritya is exemplifyative dance. It is used to bear witness the underlying meaning of the song and the emotion attached with it. It is a combinat ion of nritta and abhinaya or conceptualizations.The meaning of the song is expressed dogmatic gesture language and facial ways. Natya is analogous to dance-drama. It is a language of gestures, poses, dialogues and mime. It sop ups a point usu bothy from the Indian mythology resembling Ramayan or Mahabharata. Here, the emphasis is majorly on abhinaya or saying rather than the rhythmic movements. The Abinaya is divided as AngikabhinayaExpression through the limbs and body standardized the Head, Hands, and Legs. VachikabhinayaExpression through narrations and voice. AharyabhinayaExpression through dress, ornaments and new(prenominal) aids.Satvikabhinaya Mental expression of feeling and emotion by facial expression and use of eyes. Bharatanatyam The Journey The journey of bharatnatyam from the temples of to the south India to the proscenium of the world is a precise exciting one. Dasi-attam (Origin and decline) Bharatnatyam as a actually ancient and conventional art form has been associated with the temples of South India. It is believed that Bharatnatyam used to be know as the temple dance. Bharatnatyam was excessively kn stimulate as the dasi-attam (dance performed by the dasis the servants of God) or the sadir-attam ( coquet dance).It was choreographed to be performed solo by the devadasis in the temples as an offering to the deities. These women, cal guide devadasis, are utter to have devoted their lives to God. They were considered to be unify with the Gods. Infact, they were considered so close to the gods and so pure, that a pearl form their necklace was considered auspicious for the mangalsutra of a woman. They performed useful functions at temples alike(p) cleaning, dismission lamps, dressing the deities etc. They likewise sang devotional songs and danced in devotion to the deities. by from this, they taught music and dance to young girls.These devadasis were staring(a) artistes who could play legion(predicate) musical instrument s. They were puff up versed in Sanskrit and other languages, which helped them to interpret the com adjusts that they would perform. They were instrumental in developing a tradition of kinical music and dance in South India. The devadasis were celibate and were not allowed to have a family as they were considered to be married to the Gods. Therefore, initially most of the dances in Bharatnatyam were choreographed to be in praise of God. nearly(prenominal) padams (narrative pieces) depicted the love story of a nayak (hero) and a nayika (heroine).In most cases, the nayak was in the form of Lord Krishna, or shivah or any other unreal hero. While Shiva was said to be serious, Krishna was full of pathos and love. Thus, the choreographies mainly change state on Sringara rasa (love). Gradually the devadasi system started get plagued with s everal notorious disgusteds. Around this condemnation, it was prevalent for the Indian people hailing from princely or aristocratic families to invite a devadasi to a celebration, to sing and dance and perform. The best dancers were invited to the royal courts to perform, in return which they were provided with a shelter.In this period, the position of the devadasis could be compared to that of an apsara (celestial nymph) who danced in the courts of the Gods in order to please them. Eventually, the rich men and the aristocrats attracted the devadasis with good money and luxurious support bearings and lured them into beingness their mistresses. The devadasis were substantially enticed to the kind of lifestyle offered to them. Thus, the sringara rasa in their choreographies converted into eroticism and they danced merely to conciliate the rich men. As consequence of which, these devadasis who were held at par with the temple priests befogged their assess in the society.By this time, the Europeans had arrived to India. Their advent was like addition of fuel to the fire of the already deteriorating dance form. The Eur opeans ridiculed this entire system of dance to please the lords and considered this to be no divulge than prostitution. Under the British rule, propaganda prevailed to against Indian art, misinterpreting it as crude and immoral. Also other factors like loss of patronage due to the uncertain political conditions, lack of recognition in the education system and lack of admiration as compared to that given to ballet compete a major spot in the delimit back of the dance form. repayable to the degenerated status of the devadasis, the Indian reformers started a movement against the devadasis. Thus the devadasi tradition was banned. The government started functional with various non-governmental organizations to help reinstate these women into the society, as well as raise in the public eye(predicate) awareness of the demeaning nature of their life work Thus, the devadasi tradition and with it the performing art (bharatanatyam) took a back seat in the history of Indian art and c ulture. revivification Against all odds, a few families preserve the knowledge of this dance form.These included individuals from alter backgrounds Indian freedom fighters, Westerners inte breatheed in Indian arts, people outside thedevadasiclass who learnt Bharatanatyam, anddevadasisthemselves. The pioneers in reviving this art for are E. Krishna Iyer, Rukmini Devi, Balasaraswati etc. Bharatanatyam now attracted young artists from effectiveBrahminfamilies. Initially met with shock, their participation in the end helped to shift public opinion in favor of reviving the art. An association ofdevadasis united the effort to revive Bharatanatyam.Its ranks included an topicual(prenominal) teacher of Rukmini Devis, as well as the family of the fabled dancer Balasaraswati. Rukmini Devis institution performance in 1935 was a milestone. Her efforts win over much of the orthodox community of interests of Madras. Her reforms of costume, stage setting, repertoire, introduction of dance d rama,musical accompaniment, and thematic content, overcame the objections of conservatives that Bharatanatyam was vulgar. She went on to found the Kalakshetra institute, to which she attracted galore(postnominal) coarse artists and musicians, with whom she teach generations of dancers.Balasaraswati promoted the traditional art of thedevadasis, corroborateing that reforms were supernumerary and detracted from the art. Staying true to herdevadasilineage, she achieved great renown for her excellence. The renew awareness of Bharatanatyam in Indian society allowed many nattuvanarsto resume their training activities, and many artists to enter the field of classical dance. Rukmini Devis desire to restore the full weird potential of the dance motivated reforms that led to what was known as the Kalakshetra style of Bharatanatyam. Bharatanatyam shortly became the most widespread and popular of the Indian classical dance forms.It wasnt farsighted before it achieved international recog nition as one of Indias treasures. Rukmini Devi versus Balasaraswati Differences in the analogy of trying to revive the Indian traditional art form The two rear figures that played a major consumption in the revival of das-attam as bharatantyam Tanjore Balasaraswati and Rukmini Devi. Balasaraswati was associate with the school known as Tanjore court style while Rukmini devi was associated with a style that she developed at Kalakshetra. By management on these two dancers, we can play a joke on light on the historical event of the upgradation of bharatanatyam.They were contemporaries. Balasaraswati gave her first performance in 1925 in a temple and Rukmini Devi gave her first performance in 1935 for the Theosophical Societys anniversary celebration. Both performed Bharatanatyam regularly on contrive stage and considered it a means of salvaging the endangered dance form. In the Indian dance world, both of them are legendary figures. Their names have become equivalent to classi cism and traditionalism. Around both of them instructional communities have developed, which led to idea of instruction of various styles in Bharatnatyam.They led on to take Bharatnatyam on a completely new international level, in their own way. De animosity the similarities and the oneness in the order of business of working for the up gradation of the lost dance form, the difference in their ideologies held them in opposition which has affected the background of Bharatanatyam ever since. Rukmini Devi was a Brahmin who was married to an slope Theosophist, George Arundale at the age of sixteen. She came in physical contact with the famous ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova who accepted her as a student. Pavlova later suggested Rukmini Devi to train in her own dance from.Following her advice, Rukmini Devi returned to Madras and trained under a traditional guru in the classical dance form, Bharatanatyam. She defied the orthodox tailored that upper and center class girls should not le arn dance and set up Kalakshetra to train dancers from the upper and in-between class families. The establishment of Kalakshetra played an grievous role in bringing Bharatanatyam from the temples to the concert stage. Balasaraswati on the other hand hailed from a family of devadasis. She was natural in a lineage of women who were associated with the Tanjore music and dance since generations.Her mother and grandmother precious her to become musician considering the social brand name linked to dance at that time but she decided to become a dancer against all odds. She gave her first performance, arangetram at the temple of Ammanakshi in Kanchipuram, marking the showtime of her legendary career. Rukmini Devi Rukmini Devi entered and Balasaraswati had carved their positions in the world of dance with a radically unalike perspectives. Rukmini Devi had a very clear close of purifying the dance form. According to her, the dance form was precious but fast because its reigns were in the hands of people with ill repute.She wanted to eradicate the dent associated with it by passing it on to the hands of people from the upper or middle class. She thought that everything about Bharatnatyam needed to be purified so that it could regain its respectable position in the society. Also, she believed that the main reason for the adulteration of this art form was the fact that sringara rasa (love) was the optic of the choreographies. The sringara rasa had led to the degeneration of the art form as introduced eroticism and sexuality in the art to the extent to make it vulgar. To depict such things is unthinkable for me, she said.She was not against the sringara rasa as such (she had performed love poems by jayadeva and kalidasa in her natya), but against the choreographies performed by the devadasi. The actions, mudras and movements included by them in their choreographies had become earthy from beautiful. She strived wakeless to replace the sringara rasa by bhakti rasa or devotionalism impeccant of any sexual referrant. Bhakti Rasa Rukmini Devi held Bharatnatyam as a national art form and worked towards its subtlety and propagating this art form in India and the rest of the world.She established the Kalakshetra international school of performing arts, to fulfil her goals. Here, students from various upper and middle classes were trained in Bharatnataym and also some other dance forms. She also set up a theatre which gave a platform to her students and also to her innovations in the dance form. Thus, she made reforms to take Bharatnatyam to a unscathed new international level. Balasaraswati Balsaraswati on the other hand, was very proud of her mother, grandmother and her devadasi ancestors. She was very proud of the achievements of the devadasis in the world of Bharatnatyam. foreign Devi, she fore grounded the South Indian parturition and stood by the Tamil roots associated with the dance form. She advocated preserving the tradition, and also keeping it in the hands of thedevadasicommunity. Her argument was that the art would die if confused from the caste. She believed that Bharatnatyam was in its purest form and it required no modernization or re formation. At many occasions she reprobated efforts to purify the dance form saying. Indeed the effort to purify bharatanatyam is like putting gloss on a burnished gold or ikon a lotus.This proves how high Balasaraswatis respect and love for Bharatanatyam (in its existing form) was. She urged to vex to the custom of Bharatnatyam being performed in temples and courts. She also urged taking Bharatnatyam on the concert stage. This gave a new dimension to the revival of the dance form. She also defended the maintenance of originality of the dance form, by supporting the long, solo performances being an important component of the dance form. She emphasized the impressiveness of such elements in to context to maintain classicism, integrity and aestheticism of the dance form.She also believed that abide by the Tanjore Quartets format was an important way of honouring the contributions of the court practitioners. Sringara Rasa Balasaraswati was in particular critical of the reformers who believed in transforming the sringara rasa of the form. She was quoted as saying, Sringara is bhakti and bhakti is sringara. She believed that there is an intricate relationship between the expression of love (sringara) and feeling of devotion (bhakti). She believed that sringara is the dogmatic emotion and that no other emotion could express so beautifully the secluded union of atma (soul) and the paramatma (The almighty).This rasa gives the dancer a wide scope of introducing artistic innovation from in spite of appearance herself. Balasarswati thus, believed that she was entrusted with the task of safeguarding the dance form by not allowing it to be modernized and easily accessible for corruption. In spite of all the discouragement faced from the world, she continue d to cherish the dance form, the purity and the originality of the dance form. A similarity in the differences In spite of all the difference and such radically opposite perspectives, both Rukmini Devi and Balasaraswati had the same agenda- of economic system the dying dance form.They both strived in their own way to protect the dance form and to take it to a only new level. Their efforts in bringing Bharatnatyam to the concert stage or proscenium against all the opposition and hurdles from the society are commendable. A choreographer should be thankful to the endeavours of these two torchbearers towards the revival of the Bharatnatyam. History was therefore selective. Rukmini Devi and Balasaraswati presented their understandings by emphasizing on some aspects and eschewing the others.