Film: The Language of Dance (India)

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00:00:00: SOUND UP; [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:00:03: GEETA: Bharatanatyam is one of the seven Indian classical dance styles, and Bharatanatyam in particular is considered to be one of the oldest dance styles in India. I feel that it has almost everything that India has to offer. Because when you watch a dance performance, you get to know the range of poetry, music, spirituality, philosophy, mythology. Because we use a lot of mythology, we tell a lot of stories through the dance. The best of the weaves that we have to offer in our country, the best of jewelry that we have to offer. So dance really brings everything together. Three main components are really enshrined in the word Bharatanatyam itself. Bha, ra, and ta come out of the word Bharata.
00:00:54: GEETA: From Bha, we get Bhava, or expression, from ra we get raga, or melody. And from ta, we get tala, or rhythm. So it’s really the coming together expression, rhythm and melody, which really are the key components to this beautiful style. And when we say “expression,” we use the entire body to express. To interpret the poetry, the mythology, the spiritual component of the dance—all that is done beautifully through the body in a very stylized, aesthetic way. Just one gesture can express so many different things, so it’s a complete dictionary of meaning that one has to learn over the years.; [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:01:44: GEETA: A simple thing like the open palm. It's called pataka hastan. Pataka literally means “a flag.” [DEMONSTRATES HAND POSITIONS WITH INDIAN WORDS]
00:02:10: GEETA: Just take the simple pataka. This is the first simple hand gesture. It could be used in its abstract form, the whole world. Mother Earth. Wind.; [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:02:36: GEETA: The body. A great person. Somebody lying in bed. You. I. That other woman.; [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:03:22: GEETA: The third aspect, which is the rhythmic component….; [MUSIC PLAYS]; GEETA: …we use the bells or the anklets, to accent the feet movements and the rhythmic patterns that we create. We use gravity.; [MUSIC PLAYS]; GEETA: We are actually squatting and we take that force down, and we beat our feet, and we use gravity as a technique to express ourselves. We use it very forcefully sometimes, very delicately sometimes, but always towards gravity.; [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:04:04: GEETA: We use the entire body to communicate, so that’s what makes the dance that much more rich. The melodic aspect is basically the Carnatic style of singing, which is used to accompany the dance. Every nuance that the musician takes in the music, we are supposed to translate it in the dance, so it could be just a movement of the eye, it could be just a turn of the hand, but it had to match what the singer was singing.; [SINGING]; GEETA: It used to be a traditional where the dancer, or the devadasi, used to sit, never used to move. She could sing as well as she could dance.; [SINGING]
00:04:57: GEETA: This is a small piece dedicated to Krishna. From the temple traditional. The history of the dance is rather interesting, because initially, it used to be performed in the temples, as part of temple ritual, by a small band of trained women, called devadasis. It could be the temple of the goddess, it could be the temple of Shiva, Krishna—any of the deities—and she would actually be part of everyday temple ritual. The spiritual part of it is the most engaging, especially for the dancer, and then you start thinking, with the beautiful grammar and technique that your teacher has given you, with the experience of what is possible, how much you can push yourself—bringing all together, what is the depth of the art form? What can it do to you, and what can you do to the art form and build on it, because there’s so many things that the dance offers. So it’s very, very complex at one level and very simple at the other level, because are the ladders that most dancers go through, and it’s a process that very unique.
00:06:06: GEETA: I was fortunate to learn from one of the last devadasis who had survived, who had danced in the temple, and then who had seen the dance form being recreated onstage. As a young child when I was five, I was taken to her, and I started learning the art form. And now, looking back, what she gave me was absolutely invaluable, because she was still from that old school, where for her, the essence of the dance was to nurture the soul, and to be steeped in the tradition. What I learned from her was that you can have two sides to the art form, where you perform sometimes to entertain, sometimes to elevate. But at the same time, you can keep a space which is completely yours, and that space is very important for me, where you can have your own journey through the art form.; [MUSIC PLAYS—SINGING AND BELLS]; END OF FILM

Now Viewing: The Language of Dance

Bharatanatyam dance is derived from the ancient Hindu tradition of Cathir, the art of temple dancers. A complex and beautiful art originally only performed by women, Bharatanatyam is now practiced by men and women, Hindu and non-Hindu alike. It has gained widespread popularity through its portrayal in popular Indian films and performances around the world.