I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
As the quote aptly says, dance has always had a really special place in my heart. It gives you the leverage to experiment, to express yourself, sometimes even helps in de-stressing after a long hard day. Dance comes in different varieties and forms, but the core value that each Dance Guru would want to inculcate in his student would be for the students dances from their hearts. It is something to be enjoyed from deep within, to be rejoiced about and express all your emotions as well. I have been personally training in Dance for more than 12 years and it feels great to always go back and join the clan of dancers and start performing.
So on this #InternationalDanceDay , I want to extend my gratitude to all the dancers out there. No matter what form of dance you are performing, you are an artist who speaks the language of gestures with some music along to express your thoughts and views.
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| The very famous Natraja pose. |
As a Bharata Natyam dancer, we worship Lord Shiva. The tandava, which is a very famous part of this dance form, has been adapted from Lord Shiva. I have been training in Bharata Natyam for almost 12 years now and I feel that it is one the most challenging forms of Dance that you can attempt learning. It involves equal amount of tandava (dance of shiva) and abhinaya (graceful expressions and movements) all collaborated within one piece of dance that has a story to tell. So as a Dancer myself, here I am presenting you a glimpse from a recent dance performance that I did under my Guru Geetha Ventakeshwar. She successfully runs a Bharata Natyam School named as Bharatanatya Kalalaya which imparts dance education to students both practical and theory. In this particular Bharata Natyam performance, we chose to tell the mythological stories of Krishna, Shiva, Devis and many more through our dance. The choreography is always a combination of the elements of dance and emotions i.e. abhinaya.
So here is what the students of Bharat Natya Kalalaya performed at their recent Annual Day Recital :
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| Shiva pose with snakes surrounding the shiva |
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| Shiva pose depicting all his attributes like Nandi, Fire, Damru, Snake, Trishul |
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| Depicting the Slit of Krishna's Attire |
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| Krishna's Pose |
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| Krishna in various poses with his flute |
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| Depicting Devi Saraswati seated on the lotus with her Veena |
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| Depicting Durga with her many hands |
Lastly the students presented a recital on Shakuntala and next pictures you will see are of the main lead characters, i.e. , Shakuntala and Dushyant.
Hoping that I have been able to convey my message that no form of dance is either superior or inferior. Every form of dance has its own different and a special value. This was my dedication to all the dancers who worked hard to put together this marvelous show. For all of you others who are reading this, trust me there is a dancer within you... just put on the right music and your feet will just sway with the beats. Until next time, Happy International Dance Day. Keeping dancing and spread the word.
Picture Credits : Clayton Marques
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