Classical Bharatanatyam Dance

Description

XPLR ME brings a classical Bharatanatyam dance class right here in Singapore!

Indian culture is a testament to devotion and genius. It is as complex as the inner workings of the human mind. The Indian classical dance form is a collection of music, movements, makeup, costumes, and style aimed to achieve entertainment, spiritual expression, and virtues.

Bharatnatyam is the oldest dance form and is the symbol of dharma. Natyam in Sanskrit means dance and ‘Bharata’ is a mnemonic comprising ‘BHA’, ‘ra’ and ‘ta’ which means ‘bhava’ that is emotion and feelings; ‘raga’ that is a melody; and ‘tala’ that is rhythm respectively.

A traditional performance involves the movement of arms, legs, and hips. These dance movements are characterized by bent legs, while feet keep rhythm. Hands are used in a series of mudras, or symbolic hand gestures, to tell a story. The Carnatic style instruments used in a Bharatanatyam performance are Mridang, nadaswaram, flute, veena, violin, and nattuvangam. The verses recited during performance are in Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu.

The classical Bharatnatyam dancer is accompanied by a nattuvanar (or taladhari) is a vocalist who generally conducts the whole performance, a part often executed by the guru. The person can also play the cymbals or any other instrument. Interestingly, the conductor can also be part of the performance as the vocalist. The sequence of Bharatanatyam is Alarippu, Jatiswaran, Shabda, Varna, Pada, Thillana, and Sloka respectively.

Costumes-

The style of dressing of a Bharatanatyam dancer is more or less similar to that of a Tamil Hindu bride. She wears a gorgeous tailor-made sari that consists of a cloth specially stitched in pleats that falls in the front from the waist and when the dancer performs spectacular footwork that include stretching or bending her knees, the cloth widens up like a hand fan.

In this 1-hour classical Bharatanatyam dance session, our experienced dance instructor will be going through the classical dance steps of Bharatanatyam,​​ starting with warm-up body exercise and then beginning.

Details –

A good internet connection.

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