Bharatanatyam

Bharatanatyam is considered to be one of the oldest dance forms. It originated around the 2nd century B.C in the temples of South India. Bharatanatyam traces its origin to the ancient Indian treatise, called Natya Shastra, which covers several aspects of performing arts, including dance. Bharatanatyam literally means the dance of Bharata (India) or it can be broken into its syllables: Bha– bhava or expression, Ra– raga or melody, Ta- tala or rhythm. The three main aspects of Bharatanatyam are Nritta (pure dance movements), Natya (expressive movements) and Nritya (combination of dramatic and dance movements). The dancer combines intricate footwork, hand gestures and facial expressions to depict stories from the epics and mythology.

Arangetram

Arangetram literally means “ascending the stage”. Traditionally, it is the first solo performance by the student. After many years of training, this first formal performance heralds the dancer’s commitment to this art form. The dancer masters the sequence of dance steps and gains a good understanding of the literal and contextual meaning of each song in the repertoire, and performs for the first time in front of Lord Nataraja, his or her Guru (teacher) and the well-wishers.

Although this is Anjali’s debut performance, this evening’s program is not in the traditional Margam format.