Showing posts with label bharatanatyam costume. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bharatanatyam costume. Show all posts

Friday, June 7, 2013

Temple Jewelry

Temple jewelry is the name given to certain kinds of traditional jewelry originating in southern India. Temple jewelry is strongly associated with classical forms of Indian dance that are often part of spiritual and devotional activities, especially the Bharatanatyam form of dance. For this reason, it's also called dance jewelry.
A true set of temple jewelry includes ten separate pieces — not only necklaces and bracelets but also earrings, ear chains, diadems, chains for the waist and most especially anklets. These anklets are known as gajjalu in some regions of India; they are a key feature of Bharatanatyam dance. Gajjalu are made from leather thongs or from twine, on which small bells are hung. As the wearer moves, the bells jingle. According to tradition, the more talented the dancer, the more sound would be heard from the bells.
Today, it's very easy to find beautiful temple jewelry that's perfect for many different occasions. Anyone who hopes to perform classical Indian dance properly needs a fine set of traditional dance jewelry. Temple jewelry is also the perfect adornment for more traditional occasions.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Beijing sways to Bharatanatyam - The Hindu


For Chinese tired of Peking Opera and ballet, Jin Shanshan’s dancing school is a refuge

A Bharatanatyam school in Beijing, founded by Jin Shanshan, where two dozen young Chinese learn the classical dance form from one of China’s few
professionally trained Bharatanatyam dancers who studied in India. Photo: Ananth Krishnan
On a recent snowy Sunday, the walls of a nondescript apartment complex in a Beijing suburb reverberated with a steady rhythm.
In a small exercise room, 14 young Chinese students stomped their feet on the cold wooden floorboards, as their teacher, sitting upright and cross-legged, clapped her hands to produce a quick beat.
A typical scene, perhaps, in any Beijing arts school. This, however, is a Chinese dancing school with a difference: every Sunday morning, young Chinese from across the city gather here not to learn Peking Opera or ballet, but Bharatanatyam.
Founded in 2005 with only a couple of students, Jin Shanshan’s dancing school today trains two dozen students — from 5-year-old beginners to professional dancers.
Jin (40) is perhaps China’s only professionally-trained Bharatanatyam teacher who has studied extensively in India. She was introduced to Indian dance as long as 25 years ago, when she met the famous Chinese danseuse Zhang Jun.
Zhang brought Indian classical dance to China in the 1960s, when she was one of the founding members of former Premier Zhou Enlai’s initiative to set up an Oriental Song and Dance Ensemble. Zhang travelled to India to visit schools, studying with Uday Shankar, Birju Maharaj and at Kalakshetra in Chennai. Zhang subsequently started a school in Beijing to teach young Chinese Bharatanatyam and Kathak; Jin was one of her students.
The renowned dancer passed away last year after a battle with cancer. Her star student is looking to keep her teacher’s legacy alive through her own school, which she started seven years ago with modest ambitions.
“Back then, I only planned to teach my daughter, and a few friends encouraged me to start teaching their children,” Jin told The Hindu in an interview. Today, she teaches two dozen students every week, holding classes for beginners, intermediate and advanced dancers. Her youngest student is only four years old, while her most advanced protégés are college students in elite Beijing arts academies.
She plans to expand her school into a centre for culture that introduces Indian arts to China, and soon hopes to bring renowned Indian dancers, artists and musicians to Beijing.
Jin cites the eminent dancer Leela Samson as “a great inspiration.” She first met Samson when she travelled to Kalakshetra in Chennai in 1998. “She is my guru, who inspired me and showed me the attitude one needs to have to become an artist.”
Jin believes Chinese interest in Indian culture is growing, evinced by her steadily expanding classroom size. “Too many people in China learn Western ballet and piano,” Jin said. “Chinese people love Bollywood, but they are now also beginning to realise the charm and beauty of Indian classical dance.”
Most of her students come from well-to-do Beijing families. Xu Yan Ling enrolled her 5-year-old daughter Shi Shao in the school two years ago, after she saw Jin perform at a Beijing university.
“I want to give my child this unique education, to expose her to a different culture,” Xu said. “Zhang Jun made Indian dance very popular in China, and Shanshan is continuing her work. So we want to support her.”
Jin’s class is also popular with Beijing’s small but growing Indian community. Padma Raman from Chennai, who moved to Beijing in July, enrolled her 8-year-old daughter Smriti in Jin’s school.
“The level is really high,” Raman said. “The first thing that amazed me was how the Chinese kids were getting the mudras perfectly. Even my daughter was not getting it right but they were! Shanshan is better than some Indian teachers we have seen, and she is really following the Kalakshetra way.”
Jin takes her classes seriously, and says she also wants to instil in her students “the Indian values” she learnt through her own education, particularly at Kalakshetra. At the end of every class, the students pay their respects to their teacher, bowing to her before leaving the room — much to the amusement of a Chinese parent, who confided that her child was usually a terror to her primary schoolteachers.
Complaints from students are not tolerated. When one young student at the end of a particularly tough routine puffed out her cheeks in exhaustion, Jin admonished her. “Nobody behaves like that in India!,” she said. “Always keep your posture!”
Courtesy: The Hindu 

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Different styles of Bharatanatyam dance


Bharatanatyam has its origin in the southern state in India, Tamil Nadu and is dated back into centuries. Over the years, this dance has evolved into variants based on the region, culture and religious beliefs and hence manifests itself into different styles.

Bharatanatyam is one of the oldest known Indian classical dances that have been handed down over the years, along with the tradition. It is a form of dance that integrates three major aspects namely Bhava, Raga and Tala. “Bhava” means expression of emotions, “Raga” means music and “Tala” means rhythm. All three entwined together emerge into the vibrant bharatanatyam dance. Witnessing this classical dance performance with the dancer properly clad in a bharatanatyam costume, jewellery and make up is truly a sight to behold. It is sure to create an impact and remain etched in your memories forever.

Some of the styles that root back into the centuries are:

Thanjavur

Kancheepuram

Melattur

Vazhuvoor

Pandanaloor

Mysore


Each one of these styles has its own special significance and differs from the rest in the way in which the major elements of Bhava, raga and tala are utilized. Bharatnatyam itself is ingrained into the Hindu mythological scriptures and most of the dances try to portray those scriptures by means of the dance. These dances use rhythmic movement of the eyes, head, hands, body and legs along with apt expressions. Certain styles of bharatanatyam may provide more importance to vivid rhythmic movements alone, while some follow a slower depiction with varied facial expressions. Some styles adopt deep-sitting positions while others follow the half-sitting positions.



In the recent years other styles of Bharatanatyam dance such as the Kalakshetra and Balasaraswathi styles have also become prevalent. These are combinations or variations of one or more of the earlier styles of the dance. While the styles of the yester years give more importance for solo dancing, the contemporary styles provide more room for group performances.



Whatever may be the style of dancing; the bharatanatyam costume and jewellery is extremely important and adds great value to the dancer. Modern day trend presents the bharatanatyam dress in two different forms: one is the saree or skirt style with the pleats all ready. This needs to be draped appropriately by the dancer. The other is the pyjama style that can be easily worn by the dancer. Both costumes excel in quality and grandeur. Dancers can choose their costume based on the dance style they patronize and the comfort level that they feel for each of these costume styles.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Differences between classical Indian dance styles in terms of Natya Shastra, Tantra, calligraphy, mechanical engineering and psychiatry

By Ashwini Shankar, Chennai

The topics touched in this article will be:
Padma Subrahmanyam's elucidation of Natya Shastra's Recakas

    * Role of Recakas in producing Rasas
    * What makes the dance attractive, beautiful and interesting
    * Kaisiki vs. robotic movements in terms of mechanical engineering
    * Why classical Indian dance proper is a solo dance
    * Laya and 22 Sruthis
    * Why Bharata Muni didn't allow men to sing (and the proof that most dancers and rasikas are actually deaf)
    * Why Anita Ratnam is fond of her Tai Chi classes
    * Anga Suddham, modes of movements and calligraphy
    * The Tantric explanations of everything in terms of 3 gunas, 5 elements, the vrittis and more
    * Difference between true art, factory-produced merchandise, and garbage

In her book on the Karanas, Padma Subrahmanyam boldly attempted to pinpoint what is dance and what is not. She builds much of her explanation around the term Recaka. To give you an idea of what the mind-boggling variety of, for example, the Pada (feet) Recakas alone include, these "may utilize the space on the sides, move forward, slip or glide, waver, quiver, shake, proceed, turn away, swerve, sway, get pushed, jerk, slide, raise, lower, draw, release or whirl." Padma Subrahmanyam says, though, that Recakas "cannot be enlisted or enumerated." She also uses the terms Prthagbhava (clearly / sharply outlined) and Valana (smooth / blurred) components of movement saying that a performance that makes use of both masterfully "can never be boring even for the uninitiated." All this makes sense, while I am yet to understand her identification of Anga Suddham with Prthagbhava alone.

Alathur Vijayakumar, the founder of Kalavardhanis, thought he discovered America when he said that he arrived at a formula that detects the "presence of grace" (or rather, the presence of life) in a particular dance sequence. Any robotic movement (which the break dance or army soldiers marching seeks to emulate) can very accurately be described in terms of velocity (V) and acceleration (V²) and jerk (V³). Padma Subrahmanyam says, "...if the intensity (of movement) is constant, the actions suffer a lack of variety. The lines may be defined, lucid and distinct in every action with clarity even in the divergence of the movements. In such a convoy of actions, every movement follows disconnectedly, without getting dissolved into one another. Hence there is a danger of killing grace." She says that the word Valana signifies that "each movement glides into another in a graceful manner."

Any psychiatrist or graphologist will tell you that if the letters in your handwriting are not connected, it means you think incoherently, and you have a good chance of becoming a schizophrenic in the future. Exposure to the schizophrenic dance performances is tantamount to eating food full of chemical pesticides. The organic movements full of life, especially the kaisiki (graceful feminine) type movements, are extremely complex and each is unique (just like every live flower is unique) as the expression of the dancer's manodharma. Their presence in dance can only be approximately described in terms of infinite number of components: V, V², V³,..., V∞ , and the speed graph will be way too complex.

The slight deviations from the impeccably "perfect" computer-generated standard are inherent in classical Indian dance. The deviations that create beauty are predominantly Sattvic, though, depending on the character, they may contain a good dose of Rajas. The ugly deviations are the results of the dancer's laziness or inability to follow the proper trajectory (Anga Suddham). These are the Tamasic deviations (look at the 3 words "Dance" again).

Now, there are some politically incorrect and undemocratic conclusions that the senior dancers who hate Bharata Muni will abhor. Even if you are born with the Sattva as the dominant component of your ("Brahmin") nature, your body, emotions and mind will be more Rajasic in the teenage years, and will be gradually more and more Tamasic as you grow older. (Yoga is the only method of changing this tendency). Our ability to understand, to remember, and to learn something new depends on the amount of Sattva in us.

I find it very amusing when the "senior" dancers dare to say that they somehow "explore the Sringara rasa" even though their recitals are devoid of many of the 10 kinds of grace of the Sahaja type and of most of the 7 of A-yantaja type, all of which are part of the Valana-rich Kaisiki and all of which, according to Bharata Muni, can be found in the movements of young women only. A very interesting element of beauty is among the 10 Sahaja graces: Vicchitti (dishabille) is "the great beauty that results from the slightly careless placing of garlands, clothes, ornaments and unguents."

Why is the classical Indian dance proper a solo dance? Factory-produced latex flowers can be compared with the dance styles that are suitable for group performances where the dancers perform identical movements at the same time. To achieve the perfect "synchronization," the movements have to be as plain ("perfect-shaped") as the latex orchids (or one of the 3 words "Dance" on the right). Live flowers are never perfect-shaped and never have "geometric" appearance. If you are half-blind, the easiest method of detecting latex flowers is to smell them. No fragrance, no rasa. (Make sure the smell is not coming from your own hair where you had poured half a bottle of expensive perfume). "Recakas impearl the Nritta, make it shine and cause complete aesthetic satisfaction," says Padma Subrahmanyam. Recakas are like spices in food. Well, the food has to be bland enough to please the western palate.

In Tantra, the square represents the angular, robust and firm element of earth and Muladhara chakra. The rounded silver Moon crescent represents the element of water: cohesion, smoothness and life and... sexual energies of the Swadhisthana chakra. Swadhisthana is associated with emotion, which means that the dance without Valana is devoid of emotion. And because one of the 6 vritti petals of Swadhisthana represents affection, it means that the dancer who does not develop the Swadhisthana will have a big problem attracting the rasikas, especially the young rasikas of the opposite sex. As Swadhisthana is positioned higher than Muladhara, it means that the movements, before being expressed in the physical body, have to follow the movements of the subtle body (this is why Anita Ratnam is fond of her Tai Chi classes and will explain to us how body movements are supposed to spring from Tan Tien). The western (earthly) materialistic culture considers only the physical (sharply defined) body (sthula sharira), so their reliance on the muladhara techniques is obvious.

Padma Subrahmanyam compares the Recakas with Gamakas of Carnatic music, and says that the "Gamakas are the very life of the Raga." Referring to Bharata Muni's 22 Sruthi (microtone) system, she says that the "Gamakas are caused through a webbed state of the microtones, built on the semi-tones and tones of the musical notes." Have you seen many dancers whose laya is so good that their Recakas follow the microtones too?

If body movement can be described by a speed graph, the music is represented by its sound wave graph. Before you read on, you should define the distinction between music and noise, and between singing and shouting. (hint: analyse the sound wave graph). The graph for the violin will be much more plain than the graph for veena, the instrument essential for learning gamakas in vocal music. If Saraswathi holds a veena (not a violin, electric guitar or sax) in her hands, it's because it is the veena that is most suitable for accompanying the Recakas. The arrival of the budget electric amplification greatly reduced the popularity of the veena, as the sound coming from even the best loudspeakers in the Chennai sabhas blurred the music beyond recognition. After the age of 40, normal people become so Tamasic that they can't hear anything above 14 kHz. The ageing rasikas (except the ones who daily try to exercise their ears!) grew hard of hearing and came to prefer the Italian violin.

While there is software that can impeccably mimic any male voice, there is no software that can analyze and generate a female voice. If the male voices relate to the consonants, and the drums, the women's relate to the vowels, are far more complex, loaded with far more subtle nuances and shades of feelings. After all, isn't the world of emotion the woman's world? Bharata Muni explains that "Though men know the rules of singing in their traditional characteristics, their songs being devoid of sweetness, do not create beauty." (XXXV, 35-36). "Generally, songs are suited to women, and recitatives are suited for men... The good quality in women's recitation and sweetness in men's songs should be considered as an acquired skill, and not part of their nature. If men lead (in songs) and the songs possess good characteristics, but have no sweetness, then these impart no beauty... There may be (allowed) a loss of proper note in women's songs and playing of musical instruments. But this will not be sweet to the ear in case of men" (XXXII, 503-511). Sounds quite discriminatory, doesn't it? Note, Bharata Muni keeps saying that "The singer should be of a young age."

Ashwini (a pen name) is a young dance critic in Chennai who embarked on a long journey of recovering the celestial dance of the devas and apsaras from its pale and distorted reflections occasionally seen in the best Bharatanatyam and other classical Indian dance recitals.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Bharatanatyam dance dress color selections

At http://www.dancecostumesandjewelry.com/ you can submit the measurements accurately online and select the color of dance costumes as you wish. There is no limitation. In fact you can even upload a photo of the sample dance dress you have in mind too. We have tailors in different states in India. Most of our Bharatantyam dresses are stitched in Chennai and the Kuchipudi dresses are stitched in Hyderabad. Here are some samples of fast moving dress colors we do. This is to just give you an idea. We do not limit the color combination or style of the dance dress as we mentioned earlier. We have skirt style and pant style Bharatanatyam dress. Also we have 2 fan and 3 fan Bharatanatyam costumes. In our online store, you decide the color, style and the material.

Below we have shown some art silk material Bharatanatyam costumes.









Many thanks for looking at our sample pictures. Now please visit http://www.dancecostumesandjewelry.com/ and place your order. Please remember, all our costumes are stitched in India and so you have to wait at least 4 weeks to get them delivered to you if your are in US. Outside US delivery dates may vary depending upon the shipping method you have selected.
We will post more pictures soon.
Till then - have fun dancing ....

Monday, October 26, 2009

New Bharatanatyam costumes added to our product line !

This week we have added two different types of Bharatanatyam costumes to our product line at the online store of http://www.indiamartinusa.net/. One is made of Dharmavaaram type silk saree and the other one is made of art silk saree. Both will be stitched in India as per the measurements provided by the customer. The delivery time is around 4 – 6 weeks. Please check our readymade costume measurement chart, before ypu order custom made to see if some readymade size fits you. We already have dance practice costumes which can be used for Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi or Mohiniyattam dance practice lessons. The cost of our Bharatanatyam costumes are very reasonable. Please check out our website for more information. Apart from the Bharatanatyam dance costumes, we also have imitation temple jewellery and dance make-up accessories including false hair, Kunjalam, hair bun etc…