Surrender yourself to dance, and experience the magic!
Bharatanatyam is one of the most ancient dance form of India. The word ‘Bharata’ is composed of three syllables namely Bha for bhaava, Ra for raga, and Ta for tala, each signifying expression, melody and rhythm respectively. The word ‘Natyam’ means dance. Hence, Bharatanatyam means dance involves the three aspects of Brava, raga and tala.
According to Natyashastra, Lord Bhrahma himself creates the art of dance as a medium of expression and spirituality that would be accessible to all people. He combined literature from Rig veda, song(Geetham) from Sama veda, expression from Yajur veda and rasa from Atharva veda to create the fifth veda known as the ‘Natya veda’. Thus the art of Natya created. Lord Brahma passed on this divine Natya veda to his son, sage Bharata, who passed it on to his 100 sons. Thus this divine art form descended from the heavens to Earth.
Another legend is concerned with the story of how Lord Siva instructed Tandu, his favorite pupil to teach “Tandava‟ to Bharatha and Parvati his wife to teach “Lasya”. Thus is explained the origin of the two basic styles of dancing.
Mohiniyattam (the dance of the enchantress) is the gracefully elegant classical dance from with lasya as the predominant element.The entire technique in Mohiniyattam is of a graceful, gliding movement of the body, a circular use of the torso and a revolving in the half-bent position with the toe and heel used in a flowing rhythmic structure. The language used in the lyrics is a pleasant mixture of Malayalam and Sanskrit, known as Manipravalam. Mohiniyattam gives more importance to delicate steps and subtle expressions.
The word Mohini means a maiden who steals the heart of the onlooker. It is thought that Vaishnava devotees gave the name of Mohiniattam to this dance form. Legend says that Lord Vishnu took on the guise of a Mohini, the arch enchantress, to enthrall people.
“Yatho Hasta that Drishti,
Yatho Drishti that Manah,
Yatho Manah that Bhaava,
Yatho Bhaava thatho Rasa”
Meaning:
Where the hands(hastas) are, go the eyes (drishti), Where the eyes are, goes the mind (manah), Where the mind goes, there is an expression of inner feeling (bhaava), And where there is bhaava, mood or sentiment (rasa) is evoked
Surrender yourself to dance, and experience the magic!
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