As you all are well aware our organization, Kalyani Kala Mandir is named after my Guru and mentor of almost 30 years, Guru Srimati Kalyani Shekar. It is my attempt to honour her and express my gratitude to her for teaching me everything possible about Bharatnatyam dance, its nuances and importance. The credit for all my achievements as an artist, a dancer, […]
The modern Bharatnatyam dance as we know it today has various styles which vary in nuances. At Kalyani Kala Mandir we practice and teach the Dandayuda Pani Pillai School or style of Bharatnatyam. K.N. Dandayudapanipillai was born on July 14, 1921 at Karaikkal in a family of musicians. Dandayudapani studied music under the guidance of […]
Abhinaya, a concept derived from the ancient texts of Natya Sashtra, is the art of expression. It plays an extremely important part in all classical dance forms of India be it Manipuri or Bharatnatyam. Originating from the Sanskrit word Abhi meaning towards, it actually translates into leading the audiences towards the experience or Bhav of the sentiment or Rasa. The […]
A typical bharatnatyam recital or a complete performance routine is called a Maargam. It consists of the following Items: The programme begins with a Pushpanjali which is an offering of flowers to the gods. This is usually set to Raga Naatai or Gambhir Nattai. The Pushpanjali is usually followed with a Kauthuvam. This is an invocatory piece in which […]
Nattuvanaar is perhaps the most important person in a Bharatnatyam orchestra. Simply put the person who plays the nattuvangam is a nattuvanaar. However in reality it is so much more complex. Nattuvangam, also known as Thalam are a pair of metal alloy cymbals, one being flat, hard and base while the other being small, cup-shaped and shrill, which […]
Today I once again go back to the basics, the fundamentals, the essence… Bharatnatyam, ever since its origin centuries ago, has always been a powerful medium of communication. On tracing the origin and history of bharatnatyam, this fact can be further reinforced. According to the Natya Shastra, the monumental work on theatrical art by Bharata, in […]
Rukmini Devi Arundale (1904-1986), the renowned Bharatnatyam dancer is the person who is credited for the renaissance of Bharatnatyam dance form and more significantly making the dance which was primarily a forte of Devdasis, main stream and respectable in the society. Daughter of a well-known Sanskrit scholar and a theosophist Nilakant Sastri, Rukmini Devi was […]
Bharatnatyam, as we know today is a culmination of a process of evolution of the classical dance form through centuries. Once cultivated and nurtured in the temples and courts of South India it is a dynamic living tradition that is continuously evolving and metamorphosing through the socio cultural influences, political alignments and individual contributions through […]
Indian classical dance includes diverse dance forms and multitude of styles, each significantly different from the other but at the same time sharing many features in common. All eight classical dance forms are primarily region specific, from Manipur in the North East to Kerala in the south, with their own distinct rhythm, beauty, costume, music, language […]
Indian classical dances are rooted in mythology and borrow liberally from the literature be it Sanskrit or other classical languages such as Tamil, Telegu or Oriya. As such through the centuries many writers and poets have been adapted into the dance tradition, no one more often than the celebrated Sanskrit poet Jayadeva. Born in Kenduli, Orissa, […]