Bharatanatyam Quotes

“Several Telugu composers settled in Tamilnadu for generations produced padams.”

“Generally Shiva is associated with Tandava dance...found in the Natyashastra of sage Bharata.”

“Wikipedia: Bharatanatyam”

“At the beginning of the twenty first century, the global status of Bharata Natyam renders the form even more visible.”

“The rules of Bharata Natyam nritta by referring to purely geometric ideals, make it also a totally objective dance.”

“The ‘musical notes’ in Bharata Natyam are the adavus – units of dance which contain in them the alphabet and grammar of the dance.”

“Bharat Natyam transcends national and cultural boundaries yet remains resolutely tied to them. It circulates globally but operates as a symbol of exotic.”

“[This] refined dance form became and remains perceived as the form that ‘encapsulates the phenomenon and depth of the spiritual and artistic heritage of India'.”

“Bharat Natyam’s immediate predecessor was sadir, primarily a solo dance form practiced by devadasis, courtesans affiliated to temples and courts as performers and ritual officiants.”

“The revival of Bharat Natyam therefore depended not only on politics, but also on the ability of practitioners and promoters to articulate their understanding of the dance form’s history.”

“Traditionally Bharat Natyam has a close affinity to the floor and pull of gravity. The body “sits” in a demi pile position and energizes itself through rhythmic contact between feet and ground.”

“It becomes a momentous occasion, therefore, when someone emerges showing the restraint and spirituality of approach required to retain the essential quality of an art that took its birth with a sage.”

“If we approach Bharata Natyam with humility, learn it with dedication and practice it with devotion to God, sringara which brings out the great beauties of this dance can be portrayed with all the purity of the spirit.”

“Janet O'Shea (21 May 2007), At Home in the World: Bharata Natyam on the Global Stage, publisher: Wesleyan University Press, ISBN: 978-0-8195-6837-3”

“Alexandra Carter, Janet O'Shea (2010), The Routledge Dance Studies Reader, pages: 185–, publisher: Taylor & Francis, ISBN: 978-0-415-48598-2”

“The dance tradition and its package deal debut have become points around which Indian families rally to guarantee the continuity of Indian values, to reconfirm their Indianness to themselves...and to prepare their daughters to enter middle class Indian-American life.”

“It is this stream of sringara that swells into the mighty river of the lover-beloved songs of the Vaishnava and Saiva saints, the Ashtapadi of Jayadeva and the compositions of Kshetragna. In Bharatanatyam, too when it comes to abhinaya, sringara has been the dominant mood.”

“Bharta Natyam is a resolutely a global form. It has circulated internationally at least since 1838. In the last two decades, however, this circulation has accelerated; its viewers too are on the move. A dancer can no longer assume that she performs for an audience of afficiandos.”

“There is no need to shy away from any form of art. Many men are interested in Bharata Natyam, however, they fear of thinking how society will look at them? How will they make a profession out of it? We have to break these barriers. There is a need to change and this cannot be changed overnight.”

“In the Sabdam, emotions are withheld at the beginning; thereafter, when the dancer has clarified herself, they are released in a measured and disciplined manner. It is after, mastering this discipline that she dances the Varnam which is a living river that holds together movement and interpretation.”