Bharatanatyam How to ... : A Step-by-step Approach to Learn the Classical Form

When I look back, my life has been devoted to performing, choreography and above all, to the noble profession of teaching Bharatanatyam, sharing whatever knowledge I possess with my students.

A child has to have an open mind when he/she goes to the Guru. To make the learning more fruitful and meaningful, the student embarks on a long and arduous journey from the exploration of self to the achievement of the pinnacle of glory.

Achieving the goal is not as easy as it may seem. It requires immense dedication and hard work and no doubt, an inborn talent or aptitude for fine arts.

Whenever a student joins the Dance Class, he or she wishes to have a book to fall back upon. It is always been a great task for me as a teacher to dictate or to write notes for each and every student so that he or she understands the theory of dance and also its practice. At that stage, even a simple movement appears complicated. Also, one question that is always asked of me is whether I could suggest a book, that would help the student in understanding the basics of dance. Also a guide book which would assist the senior students when they take up to teaching carrier.

The basic purpose of this book is to present all the principles, methods and techniques of Bharatanatyam in a simple, systematic and comprehensive manner.

It leads the student from the simple to the complex: introduction to the dance form, tala (time measure), gestures, feet positions, the dancer's workout orchestra and the main topics of the dance units, Adavus. The Advus have been explained in detail with complete illustrations.

The pre-recorded audio and the video-cassette to assist in the practice is also available.

Some special features of this book are:
The language adopted is simple and easy to understand .
The book is self-explanatory with over 1400 photographs and illustrations.
Basic Carnatic music notes have been recorded along with the usual Adavu syllables in the cassette.
This will break the monotony of practicing the steps and also familiarize the student with Carnatic music, which is part and parcel of Bharatanatyam.

My mentor and Guru Smt. Rukmini Devi Arunadale, Founder of Kalakshetra, Chennai and other teachers at Kalakshetra have inculcated in me the discipline and devotion, which have guided my thought processes while writing this book. To quote my mentor and Guru Rukmini Devi, "Success is not in achievement. Success is in efforts."

Drawing inspiration from my teachers and alma mater, Kalakshetra, and combining that with my own experience, I have in a small measure, made efforts to provide an insight into the learning processes of Bharatanatyam, the artistic dance form of India.