Indian dancing

BHARATA NATYAM

porated in the orchestra to provide the syara, or scale for the refrain.

The costume consists of a dhoti for both male and female dancers. Tt is usually of brocade or shimmering silk or satin. It fits snugly above the ankles and is pleated along the legs, which it encases. Over the dhorz, in the middle, is a pleated or frilled cloth hanging from the waist to perhaps the knees. The upper part of the male dancer’s body remains bare save for a necklace; women, of coutse, wear a tight-fitting cho/z, or bodice, of the same colour and material as the dhozz.

Armlets, wristlets or bangles, earrings, and necklaces serve to enhance the dancet’s appearance. Women weat a veni, or semi-citcle of real or artificial flowers round the bun or plait of the hair. In the centte of the forehead a “Ra, or dot, is impressed.

SUMMING UP

The ancient art of Bharata Natyam, so forceful in its power, so finished in its technique, must be saved from those who would reduce its robust strength and vigour. Too often nattwans ate interested in this dignified art only as a commercial proposition. The only way of saving it from degradation seems to be to weed out the many undesirable elements that have crept in.

When Bharata Natyam adhetes to tradition it brings the artist and the spectator into contact with all that is best and purest in Indian culture. It exalts the mind and tefreshes the spirit. It is now in a stage of rebirth and the odium resulting from its having been the monopoly of the devadasi is, fortunately, fast disappearing.

It is well to bear in mind that, despite its classicism, Bharata Natyam is an art with vast possibilities for new expressions, so long as these fit into the old pattern and are not just the individual eccentticities or vulgarities of particular dancers. New motifs can, of course, be produced only by those with a sound knowledge of the basic principles of the att.

Bharata Natyam is amongst the finest of our art treasures, the noblest of our inheritances. It is up to us to tend it with loving cate.