Bharatham -- a manifestation of Love.

hi people..Am back after almost a weeks time.Its been really hot here and i am depserately hoping for some rain.Last weekend was good enough.Both Vijay and I were able to spend sometime with each other and catch a couple of old tamil movies.Of course..my cooking spree continues with the latest experiment being "Cabbage mint Masala rice".Well..for all mint lovers, u can also try out mint rava upma..it tastes yummy!!.Known to aid digestion, mint also adds lovely aroma and flavor to the food..so mix it with anything and ...it will set your mouth watering.Okay now getting back to the original thread..As I stated in my previous post, this post also deals with some more aspects of nritya.

As a bharatanatyam dancer, its very important to have a strong command over the sense of tala,abhinaya,timing,linear balance, and grace.Apart from these,its an added advantage to have a decent knowledge of mythology,the vedas and the puranas. Traditional bharatanatya was performed in the temple courtyards and the songs were usually in praise of the various Hindu dieties.Dance was infact viewed as a way to attain salvation and was an inseparable part of prayers offered to the Lord.Hence, knowledge of mythology helps the dancer to interpret a situation from mulitple angles.This is especially useful when one is working on the Varnams and Padams..wherein the performer is required to depict several episodes of a heroic character's lifetime.

Now lets move on to the concept which is exhaustively dealt with in bharatanatya. "Prema" or love is the most important emotion on which most of the dance situations are based.Prema can be further divided into three categories namely,Vatsalya Prema(affectionate love).Eg.A mother's love for her child, Rathi Prema (Physical/carnal love)eg. love between a husband and wife and finally Bhakthi Prema (Spiritual/devotional love)eg.A devotee's love for his Lord.Out of the three Bhakthi Prema and Rathi Prema are favorites and hugely chosen for most occassions.

My personal favorite though is Bhakthi Prema..hmm..why?? possibly because I can relate very well to it and hence able to potray it the best.Well..another viewpoint is that all forms of love ultimately lead to bhakthi prema.In my opinion,bhakthi prema is the highest degree any love can attain.Be it love towards a person,love towards your profession or love towards your hobbies. Any form of love when done with total dedication and a pure heart attains a divine stature.Instances of these can be found from Lord Krishna's life...Yashoda maiyaa 's Vatsalya Prem for mischevious lord Krishna ultimately attained that status of Bhakthi Prema which took her to salvation.Likewise, Radha's rathi Prem for heartthrob krishna was so intense and pure that she became one with the Lord (nirvana)and even today, is considered to be the epitome of love. In bhakthi prema one finds immense peace of mind and happiness which is precisely the feeling one gets if one does his/her job with total involvement and dedication.Probably, our object of love then becomes God and our love for it becomes Bhakthi or devotion.

hmm..I think I should stop here for now...this discussion on Prema takes us to another post on Madhurashtakam ..soon to follow:)

Summer Activity... Bharatnatyam

Hello people!..its a sleepy friday afternoon here in Pennsylvania. With the temperatures touching as high as 36 degrees and no sign of breeze outside, all I can do is just sit back sipping lemonade and surf the web mindlessly...hmm..or probably, i can do something better ..why not tell u more about my dance activity this summer??

After almost a span of a year, this summer I got to spend a lot of time with my passion--Bharatanatya.I thorougly enjoyed revising my old dance items and also finished choreographing a new dance item called "Jathiswaram" set to Hansanandhi raga and Rupaka tala.For those who dont know much about this ancient dance form..well the literature is replete with information about it.(see here). To tell you more about the item,the word Jathiswaram can be split up into two distinct parts, "Jathi" and "Swaram". In this item, the jathi patterns flow in accord with the swara patterns resulting in a rich audio-visual effect.The swara aspect becomes more important in this particular piece.A wonderful medley of slow and fast paced verses gives the apt lift to the energy level of the performance ,the peak of which is realized in the Thillana.

Jathiswaram comes in the category of pure dance or Nritta which is devoid of abhinaya and usually follows the pushpanjali or allaripu in the traditional margam (path of dance recital). Dance combined with abhinaya is termed as Nritya. Abhinaya can be further divided into 4 categories of aangik abhinaya(expression through body movements), vaachik abhinaya (Expression through speech/words), aahaarya abhinaya(expression through costumes), saatvik abhinaya(expression through heart/soul). According to me,in Bharatanatya, Aangik and satvik abhinaya are of utmost importance. Appropriate body gestures and facial expressions can effectively depict a character or convey a message and help the audience visualize it without the need for song or special costume.For example,if one has to depict Lord Krishna, one need not wear the pitambar vastra or play a flute..rather one just needs to emulate the flute using hand gestures (aangik abhinay) and assume a demure poise like that of Lord Krishna(satvik abhinay).thats the magic of dance...u can be what u want to be..!

Initially viewed as the means to attain nirvana, bharatnatyam fell prey to the malicious mideaval rulers and came to be called "devadasiattam". Bharatnatyam was banned and its learners were subject to severe social ostracism .Thanks to the efforts of stalwarts like Ram Gopal, Bala saraswathi and Smt.Rukmini Devi..bharatanatya was revived in the early 1900's and now has spread far and wide ,finally getting the status it truly deserves.In todays society, bharatanatya is no longer confined to art or entertainment but has its reach in the fields of physical therapy, personality development, and the like.Nevertheless, in the present social context,it can be used as a powerful tool to create awarness of national integration, fight against diseases and world peace & harmony.

ok..i think i should wrap up for today...more posts on dance to follow..so all those interested..keep yourself updated.

A look into my samayalarai..

Hi folks...Vijay managed to capture a few of the dishes in his camera and I am uploading them for your visual treat. I will keep updating the pictures as and when time permits.So...stay tuned!

Raw mango rice

Mint pulao

Beet root rice



Mint Cabbage Rice

Moru Kuzambu ( Okra Kadi)

Bhature

Channa Masala

Aviyal

Tamarind rice (puliodarai)

3 in one pasta with verde'

Rice upma

Carrot Rice

Spinach pulao
Ragda pattice!
Ragda Gravy
Hot hot Pattice!!
Podalagai poruchha kootu
Cholay!
Methi Parathe
Pav Bhaji
Madhur Vadai
Green Gram Dal Dosai