Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam or Bharatnatyam ( Tamil : பரதநாட்டியம், Sanskrit : भरतनाट्यम, bhāratanāṭyam, literal: dance of India ) is one of the eight classical dance styles in India . Its roots lie in the south Indian temple culture and are recorded in the Natyashastra .
history
The Bharatanāṭyam developed in Tamil Nadu and is still particularly cultivated there today. Today's Bharatanāṭyam dance has developed from the temple dance, Sadir or dasi attam, as the dance style was originally called. It is thanks to the descendants of the Devadasis (temple dancers) as well as the Nattuvanaras (dance masters, teachers) as well as some outstanding personalities of the cultural life of South India that this dance style can be learned and performed worldwide today. The format of today's Bharatanatyam stage dance goes back to the reign of Maharaja Sarfoji II. Four famous musicians worked at his court who created today's classical dance repertoire and are known as the Tanjore Quartet. It's called the Alarippu-Tillna repertoire. The actual roots of the dance are much older and can theoretically be found in the Natya Sastra.
Indian mythology and literature are still decisive for the content of the dance, which has experienced a renaissance since the 1930s through Rukmini Devi Arundale and her establishment of the Kalakshetra Foundation . Bharatanatyam is now increasingly finding its place on western stages. Important representatives of the dance style with their own dance schools are u. a. Rajyashree Ramesh, Anjali Sriram, Chandra Devi (Germany), Radha Anjali Saber-Zaimian and their students Asmita Banerjee, Natalie Saraswati Soondrum, Bhakti Devi u. a. (Austria) and Keshava, Vijaya and Sharmila Rao (Switzerland).
description
The Bharatanatyam is a traditional South Indian dance. There are innumerable dances, most of which are individual dances. However, there are also group dances, e.g. B. the Kaavadi. The Bharatanatyam is based on the aspects bhava (expression), raga (tone scale), tala (rhythm) and natyam (dance and drama). The Bharatanatyam owes its repertoire in its present form to four famous musicians and dance masters of the 18th century from Thanjavur (Tanjore), South India ( Tanjore Quartet ). It includes abstract and narrative dances in a specific order.
The content of the dance comes from Hindu mythology, literature and religious philosophy. The music to be danced to is classical South Indian, so-called Carnatic music .
The Bharatanatyam dance consists of two elements: the abstract, purely rhythmic dance ( nritta ) and the narrative, performing dance ( nritya , abhinaya ).
In Nritta, the purely rhythmic dance, the movements are performed according to the rhythm ( tala ) and the melody mode ( raga ) of a piece of music. In Nritya , the narrative or performing dance, performing postures and facial expressions ( Abhinaya ) are used to represent and interpret the text of a song.
The basic posture of the dancer consists of legs turned outwards, knees bent ( Ardha Mandali , identical to the demi plié in ballet) and a straight upper body. The torso stays straight as a pin during the dance; Flexions occur from the hip. The rhythmic footwork, the sophisticated facial expressions and the difficult hand postures make up the overall impression of the Bharatanatyam dance.
Movie
The 1999 film Shiva's Daughters by Angela Boeti and Norbert Busè presents a Bharatanatyam dance school in Madras. It contains interviews from well-known Bharatanatyam dancers and dance students and accompanies the lessons of the German dance student Sonja Kleiner.
literature
- Tabea Jerrentrup: glitter. Aspects of the sociology and psychology of dance. Duisburg: WiKu-Wissenschaftsverlag and Kulturedition (2006). ISBN 3-86553-172-5
- Vijaya Rao: Image of the divine. Bharata Natyam. The classical Indian dance. Freiburg 1987.
