Natya sparkles in ancient dance
By S. Roy
Last Saturday, Finney Chapel was filled with the rhythmic noises of dancing
bells and classical South Indian music. As a part of the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month,
Natya, a Bharat Natyam dance troupe based in Chicago enchanted the audience for two hours.
Natya Dance Theatre was started by choreographer and dancer Hema Rajagopalan in 1975.
Bharat Natyam is a classical dance form of India that uses three aspects of kinetic expressions:
Nritta, the pure movement, Nritya, the lyrical dance that interprets poetry, and lastly
Natya, which is the dance-drama part of the dance. It is a 2000-year-old art that continues to
be an intricate part of the South Asian cultural heritage and identity today.
Many South Asians, especially women as well as all around the world, learn Bharat Natyam as an
exercise in cultural enrichment. Many also hope to reach a high level of expertise in order to
pass down this dance form to future generations. Natya aims to educate and train the new generation
about Bharat Natyam.
The repertoire consisted of six pieces, starting with Pushpanjali, the dance about
the offering of flowers. The dancer gracefully entered the stage and then showered the audience
with flower petals. This dance is to offer obeisance to the gods, the audience and the stage. The
next piece was about praising the elephant-faced god, Ganesha, who is considered the remover of
all obstacles.
The dancers in both the pieces applied extensive hand movements and a combination of fast and slow
footwork that kept the audience completely mesmerized.
Their facial expressions translated to the audience the lyrics of the songs sung in Carnatic.
The next piece was Varnam, or Colors, which was a combination of
pure and expressional dance and the theme [was] the yearning of the soul to unite with God.
This piece was about Lord Shiva and the emcee, senior Shruti Sasidharan, told the audience a Bharat
Natyam repertoire is not complete without paying homage to Shiva. Sasidharan recited the lyrics
of the song in English while the dancer danced and acted out the piece.
She told a story with her hands, feet and facial expressions about being in love with Lord Shiva
but having to hide their relationship.
Next, two of the dancers performed a piece about the blue God Krishna, his friends and the beauties
of nature.
The following piece showed another side of Krishna. In this piece, Krishna cheats on the heroine
who refuses to forgive him. The audience was enthralled by the piece on Devi, or Goddess,
who is born with the deformity of having three breasts, but she is blessed by the divine beings
who gave her great archery and dancing abilities.
In one of her conquests, she saw Lord Shiva and falls in love with him. At this moment she becomes
beautiful, erased of her deformity.
The very last piece of the show, the Tillana, performed by all three of the dancers, was a vibrant
and rhythmic dance, filled with dynamic footwork and movements.
When asked about the importance of having such cultural troupes perform at Oberlin, Sasidharan,
one of the main organizers of the APA heritage month and an older member of and performer for Natya,
commented that it is important to learn about such dance forms as Bharat Natyam by watching these
performances. She stressed that it is important to incorporate the history and the performance
aspect of the dance form into the regular curriculum.
The dance department needs to be involved in this programming, Sasidharan said. She
also said that though these cultural events take place sporadically, it is important to consistently
push for such performers to come to Oberlin in order to educate the community on such ancient yet
very very relevant cultures.
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