Bharatanatyam in Tamil Nadu

Bharatanatyam is the classical dance form associated with Tamil Nadu, danced solo and built from two halves that alternate through a recital. Nritta is pure rhythm: sharp lines, a half-sitting stance, feet striking a pattern against the drum and against the syllables called out by the teacher. Abhinaya is the storytelling half, slower and carried by hand gestures, eye movement and facial expression, usually drawing on devotional poetry. A dancer works with a small live ensemble rather than a recording, and a full recital moves from a short invocation through longer set pieces to a fast closing item. Chennai is where you are most likely to see it done well.

History

The dance's theory goes back to the Natya Shastra, a Sanskrit text on the performing arts compiled sometime between about 500 BCE and 500 CE, and the Tamil epic Silappatikaram, of around the 2nd century CE, describes the training of a dancer named Madhavi. Temple carvings at Kanchipuram from the 6th to 9th centuries show dance was already a refined art, and the southern gateway of the Chidambaram temple, around the 12th century, carries 108 dance poses from the Natya Shastra carved in stone. The name itself is modern: in 1932, at a meeting of the Madras Music Academy, E. Krishna Iyer and Rukmini Devi Arundale proposed renaming the dance then called Sadiraattam as Bharatanatyam, and they reshaped it mainly from the Pandanallur style (Wikipedia, Bharatanatyam).

What you'll find

• The opening rhythm items - alarippu and jatiswaram, where footwork, line and posture are on display.
• Abhinaya passages - slow storytelling sections carried almost entirely by hands, eyes and expression.
• The live ensemble - vocalist, mridangam, flute or violin, and the teacher calling rhythmic syllables.
• Costume and makeup - stitched silk, pleated fan, ankle bells and heavy eye definition made to read from the back row.

When to go

The Margazhi season, roughly mid-December to mid-January, fills Chennai's sabha halls with hundreds of recitals a day, many of them free or cheap, and is by far the best time to see the form. Outside that window performances run year-round but need looking up. Evening start times are normal, and recitals often begin late.

Practical notes

A full recital runs long, sometimes two hours, and if you do not know the gesture vocabulary the storytelling sections can feel static. Season venues are crowded, seating is plastic chairs and sound systems are hit and miss. The short floor shows sold to visitors at hotels are heavily abridged and usually amplified past the point of pleasure.

Nearby

Mamallapuram's shore temples and the temple towns of Kanchipuram and Thanjavur are all trips out from Chennai.