The Reviews

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The Performance

Bharata Natyam is developed from ritualistic dances performed as offering to the deities of Hindu temples.

What Is Traditional Indian Dance?

A blanket term for various performance arts rooted in religious Hindu musical theatre styles.

 Bharata Natyam 

What is a traditional performance of Bharata Natyam comprised of?

The traditional Bharatanatyam performance follows a seven-part order of presentation. This set is called margam.

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The concert begins with a rhythmic invocation called Alarippu. It’s prototype is pushpanjali which was performed by temple dancers (deva dasis) as a ritual offering of flowers to the deity of a temple. It is abstract dance, with no sung narrative. The idea is that the dancer’s body slowly unfolds like a flower, showing the basic poses and movements of the dance in three speeds.

The next stage of the performance adds melody to the basic movements in a rondo format; this is called Jatiswaram. The dance is technical performance, pure in form and without poetry. The melodic structure of the music is based on the ascending and descending scale of a raga.

Shabdam is next with the added dimension of poetry sung in seven beats. The solo dancer and musicians keep a steady flow of music while the dancer must add abhinaya (drama) in a constant flow of gestures and mime. The shabdam should be performed to a lively steady beat; the challenge for the dancer is to keep a steady of flow of gestures and drama without pause.

The varnam is the last item usually before a brief intermission. It is the longest and most complex dance of the traditional Bharata Natyam margam; with drama and abstract rhythmic sections alternating, resembling the structure of a Hindu temple. The expectation is that the dancer shows her ability to go deeper into the sung poetry and melody; displaying her skill in interpretation of the text, bringing out the meanings of the sub-text. A traditional varnam may be as long as 30-45 minutes or sometimes an hour.

Padams are next. This is when the volume of rhythmic display and sung poetry are tuned down, much like entering the sanctum sanctorum of a temple after experiencing the loud cacophony of the outer courtyards and halls of the temple proper. Balasaraswati said this is when the stage should be filled with reverence; the abhinaya is a solemn spiritual message or devotional religious prayer. The music is at a slower tempo making the dance a deeper experience for the audience and the dancer. Depending on the dancer’s abilities and repertoire, there usually are three to four padams performed.

The performance ends with thillana; the climax of the margam. Just like alarippu, thillana is abstract movement and music with no drama or sung poetry. Usually thillana is performed at a lively pace, challenging the musicians and dancer to create a brilliant explosive visual picture of abstract movement and complex rhythm.

‘The overall sequence of a Bharata Natyam performance”, states Balasaraswati, “thus moves from “mere meter; then melody and meter; continuing with music, meaning and meter; its expansion in the centerpiece of the varnam; thereafter, music and meaning without meter; (…) a non-metrical song at the end.” Shlokam or mangalam is a devotional piece either interpreted by the dancer without rhythmic structure, like a prayer, or by the musicians as a closing prayer or offering.

This is very like the experience of the devotee emerging from the temple sanctum into the bustle of the temple proper, then leaving the temple with a silent prayer in the heart.

Photo Credit to Bauwerks Photography Studio Chicago

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