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Sometimes young (ages 5–7) but highly promising children are admitted to a Pre-Professional Training program where Grade I of the professional program is spread over a two-year period. In the first year these students learn the basics of movements, rhythm, body co-ordination, singing and storytelling. The training is also tailored to individual needs.
Students typically enter into the 1st grade of the professional program of BHARATANATYAM or ODISSI anywhere between ages 7–10. The school year consists of 35 classes beginning in September/October and ending in June. The session length begins at 1 hour and is increased by 1/2 hour in each grade until reaching 4 hour long sessions in the 7th and final grade.
This
level will continue advanced learning and performing, in addition, it
will involve other important aspects of the art such as creating,
teaching, and conducting that will involve (i) training in one
additional margam (traditional concert repertoire), and selected works
in neo-classical and contemporary Indian dance; (ii) training in how to
choreograph solo and group works, including the entire process from
concept and creation to production and performance, both theoretically
and practically for each student; (iii) training to conduct dance
performances and also training to become a teacher. The student may also
specialize in conducting and teaching;
In 2012, a stand-alone course under the title: “Bharatanatyam for Western Dancers - Ballet and Modern” will be offered at our new downtown location in the studio of the National Ballet School. This will be carefully monitored and may need adjustments and fine-tuning to respond sensitively to the needs, abilities and expectations of the western dancers. Following upon the experience with this course, several useful courses on this line will be designed for larger dance community in the following years.
Sharing the basic principles with other classical dance styles of India,
Bharatanatyam offers dance numbers which fall into two main categories:
(a) nritta or the pure dance, and (b) nritya or the expressional dance.
The nritta consists of the movements of the body and the limbs, which
are performed for their own sake, for the visual beauty that they create
and not to signify any particular idea or an emotion. The aesthetic
content of nritta is thus the beauty of form and movements created by
the dance in conjunction with a similar sense of design of
The
discovery of Odissl dance and its recognition as a major classical style
have become a landmark In the cultural renaissance that has swept the
country In the last fifty years. The sculpturesque beauty and the
lyrical charm of this dance have already captivated a younger generation
of dancers and art lovers both within and beyond the boundaries of the
State of Orissa in Eastern India where this style originated and
developed over a long period. In fact the style is as ancient as the
original form of Bharatanatyam with which it shares a similar history of
growth, decay, oblivion and revival over a period of two millenia. Like
Bharatanatyam, It was preserved In the temples of Orissa as part of an
elaborate ritual In the daily worship of the deity and thus had an
obvious religious and spiritual meaning¬fulness. Although it shares with
other classical styles such as Bharatanatyam, the basic principles and
aesthetic values of Indian dance, it has its own distinctive
characteristics in terms of basic movements, body postures, the forms of
its expressive gestures and the peculiarly alluring nature of its Odissi
music which is a blend of northern and southern styles of classical
Indian music.
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In
Nrtyakala, the total training is primarily divided into two stages:
Professional (7 grades or years) and Post-graduate (also called
Advanced, specialized, etc. (3 grades or years).
Bharatanatyam, the classical dance of Tamil Nadu in South India is one
of the most ancient and highly developed forms of stylized dance.
Surviving over a period of about two thousand years, the original style
underwent numerous changes and acquired a variety of
connotations—aesthetic, religious, occult with differences in emphasis
upon one or the other during different periods of its long history. A
strong modern revival of interest in this art form has brought it out of
the temples and royal courts where it was practised and preserved by a
class of temple dancers and court dancers and has firmly established its
general popularity in public concert halls. Cherished for its great
aesthetic values, this modern variant of the ancient dance style does
retain the religious flavour and nuances in many of its basic movements
and traditional compositions, thus offering a rich repertoire which is
finely balanced in a variety of ways between the sensuous and secular on
the one hand and religious and spiritual on the other. Today this dance
style is no longer confined to the region of its origin but is practised
and performed by dancers of most other parts of the country. However,
the essentially regional flavour is still retained In its association
with the distinctive music, language, poetry and local cultural
overtones of South India.
