By definition, tillana is a musical composition used profusely in bharatnatyam. The pallavi and anupallavi use only solkattu and occasionally swaras. At the end, there is usually a short charanam in praise of a king or God. It is generally performed towards the end of a recital. It is the concluding piece of any bharatnatyam […]
Although bharata himself makes no direct reference to lasya in the natya shastra, the term lasya, in the context of Hindu mythology, describes an extremely feminine, graceful and fluid type of dance, generally with shringara as the dominant rasa, that the goddess Parvati performed. It was as a response to the male energy of the cosmic […]
Angiga Abhinaya is shown by the body and the use of the limbs. It can be further classified into three categories, namely, the anga, the Upanga and the pratyanga. Anga – The angas include the following six parts of the body, head, hands, chest, sides (flanks), waist (hips) and feet. Some scholars include the neck also […]
Jatiswaram is an example of a pure dance or nritta sequence in which the performer weaves several patterns on a basic musical composition. Just like its name, it is executed to the tune of a combination of swara passages in a particular raga and tala. It is so named on account of the fact that it is […]
In Bharatnatyam, like in any other classical dance form, there is a close relationship between rasa and bhava. In simple words, bhava is the sentiment and rasa is the emotion or love, which it develops into. “Anubhavyate anen vagang krotobhinaya iti”: This shloka by Bharata simply defines the bhava as the constant state of mind […]
The 9 head gestures, named by those well-versed in the rules of natyashastra are called the shirobhedas. The shirobheda shloka is as follows: Samamudvahitam adhomukhamalolitam dhutam|| Kampitam cha paravrittamutkshiptam parivaahitam|| Navadhaa kathitam sheersham natayashastravisharadaiha|| The explanation of each shirobheda alongwith its shloka is given below: SAMA: Nishchalam samam akhyatam yatnatyunnati varjitam| Nrityarambhe japadou cha garwe pranaya […]
Yamini emerged as a brilliant dancer on the contemporary stage with her first performance in Chennai in 1957. Prior to that, she was in Kalakshetra and trained in bharatnatyam under the guidance of Rukmini Devi. She also took part in various dance dramas choreographed by Rukmini Devi. She was awarded a Govt. Of India scholarship […]
Technically, the term “rasa” means rapture. According to the Natya shastra, Rasa is produced by a combination of the vibhaava (determinants, stimulus or right ambience), Anubhaava (the transitory mental status or the effective results of the excitation produced in the vibhaava) and vyaabhichaari bhaava (birth of the derived emotion). Rasa imparts blissful joy with a […]
Tala means cyclic rhythms of beats. According to some authors, it is derived from ‘ta’ (referring to siva’s tandava aspect) and ‘la’ (referring to pallavi lasya). The union of these two or of the right and left hands produce tala. The smallest unit measured in tala is one akshara kala. There are mainly three angas […]
There are a few classifications of the Nayikas. The first classification in Shringara is as given below: Mugda: The innocent one Madhya: one with medium intelligence Prakalpa: The experienced one (married, a public woman or on who belongs to another one) The 2nd classification is as follows: Swiya: One who always thinks only about her own nayaka ( husband). […]