Introduction
Origin
Temple Dancers
Revival
Components of Bharatanatyam
Repertoire Arangretram

Introduction:
This is a very popular and the oldest classical dance forms born in South India. It is the Dance of mind & soul. It is extremely traditional and known for its grace, purity, tenderness, statuesque & sculpturesque poses. It intensifies the performer and the beholder to a higher level of spiritual consciousness. The dancer is considered as a worshiper of the Divine filled with the embodiment of beauty, charm and gracefulness.
The general construal for the name is

BHAva(expression) + RAga (music) + TAla(rhythm) + NATYAM(dance) = Bharatanatyam

Origin:

(The Devas to The Humans)

It was at the beginning of Treta Yug, when people became victims of lust, and were engaged in rustic rites and activities. The world was overwhelmed with jealousy experiencing both happiness and misery. This urged the Devas along with Lord Indra to approach Lord Brahma (the creator) to conceive an aesthetic and pleasing recreation that could be accessible to all classes.
Brahma resolved into his yogic power and after considering the four Vedas, came up with a fifth Veda, known as the Natya Veda. The Natya Veda dealt with scriptural texts and demonstrated all types of arts and crafts.
After creating such a Veda, Brahma then ordered Indra to practise and propagate it. At this point the Devas considered themselves incapable of receiving, retaining and comprehending the holy book. They thus suggested the sages (who are well versed in all Vedas) for its propagation.
Brahma thus ordered the mortal sage Bharatha for this task, and Bharatha along with his 100 sons obeyed his orders. During this course of time, Bharatha muni realized that his task will not be complete and well presented with out the presence of women. Thus Brahma created 24 Apsaras (celestial women or nymphs) to assist Bharatha in his work. Bhartaha eventually formed his own troupe which gave its debut during the Indra Dhwajamaha (festival of Indra’s banner). Having mastered the art, Bhartaha wrote his own compilation called Natyashastra.

The debut was witnessed by all Devas including Lord Shiva. Impressed by the performance, Lord Shiva instructed Tandu to teach Bharatha Tandava (pure dance with masculine movements), simultaneously Parvathi (Shiva’s consort) taught Lasya (soft dance with feminine movements) to Usha Devi. Thus the art was taught by the Devas to the sages who then taught it to the Humans on earth.

Temple dancers:
 
The people on earth came up with a belief that god’s grace can be earned by worshipping him through dance and music. Thus came into existence the practise of dedicating women to the service of god. These dancing damsels were referred to as Devadasis. This practise was not only prevalent in Tamil Nadu but also in many places across the world. These Devadasis had no distinctions of caste and were either voluntarily or forcibly subjected to service of god due to poverty. But soon the Devadasis enjoyed royal patronage during the rule of various kings. It was the invasion of Muslims when the art suffered negligence. Having pushed to poverty the Devadasis found themselves in deprived class of society. Soon they were considered as prostitutes who sang and danced for the kings. Dancing had now become the art of prostitutes, where spirituality was replaced by vulgarity, until a little before independence of India.

Revival:

Devadasis were looked down upon and the art had reached its near extinction when the reformists thwarted for its growth. Mrs Rukmini Devi Arundale, learnt to dance from these Devadasis, even after suffering much insults and discouragement from the society. She spent most of her assets in paying the Devadasis who taught her. It was she who first called this dance Bharathanatyam as it originated from sage Bharatha (the dance had considered various names like Sadir, China Melam, etc before this). She reformed the art, by removing the vulgarity it had developed due to the forceful orders of the kings to the Devadasis. She founded the famous dance institution Kalakshetra and encouraged many girls, including the ones from the upper class of the society into this art. Pranitya follows the Kalakshetra style of dance and identifies itself as on off spring of Kalakshetra.

Components Of Bharatanatyam:

Nritta

Nritta is pure dance movements comprising of Adavus and carry no specific theme of it own. Adavus are basic dance steps which can be woven into various rhythmic patterns to make an aesthetically beautiful sequence.
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Nritya

Nritya is a combination of Nritta and Abhinaya. Abhinaya is kinaesthetic expression of ideas, emotions or any theme through the use of hand gestures called Mudras. There are 28 single hand gestures called Asamyuta Hastas and 13 double hand gestures called Samyuta Hastas, with the help of which one can express any kind of emotion.

Natya

Natya uses spoken words, expressions and actions to articulate the elements of drama. Natya in a layman’s view is dance-drama. Natya is dramatic representation of stories from mythology.  The concept of dance actually originated in the form of dance dramas and later gained importance as a solo performance.  Even here the dramatic representation is prominent.  The solo dancer portrays different characters while narrating these stories. 

Repertoire:

The Bharathanatyam dancer’s repertoire is extensive. It is structured and codified by the name Maargam, through the remarkable contribution of the Tajore brothers. Maargam means a sequence of items beginning with an invocatory number staring from the Allaripu right upto Thillana. A complete Maargam presents logical development of dance facets. It starts off with a purely Nritta number and we traverse through the Margam, Nritta is slowly replaced with Nritya. The peak of the recital is reached when Nritta and Nritya are equally displayed through the Varnam.
The elements of a recital are as below:

Alaripu

The literary meaning of Alaripu is blossoming, as in the dancer spreads out her limbs like a blooming flower. It starts off with rhythmic eye and neck movements and continues with few different Adavus. It thus helps a dancer to warm up for the rest of the recital. It is entirely a Nritta number.

Jathiswaram
Here several Adavu patterns are performed for a particular musical composition. The hand gestures used in Jathiswaram are merely decorative and do not convey any specific meaning or sentiment. Thus this is also a Nritta number.

Shabdam

We see a slight prevalence of Abhinaya in this number. Though aspects of Nritta are still maintained it gives scope for the dancer to transfer the literal meaning of words without much elaboration.

Varam

This is the most important number of a recital. Here we see Nritta and Abhinaya in equal importance. Apart from giving full scope for the dancer to improvise on a given theme it also portrays their abilities in Nritta. Thus it makes the best number of a recital and helps dancer to display their abilities in the art of Nritta and Nritya.

Padam

Padam is best defined as an interpretive dance. It offers an uninterrupted opportunity or exclusive importance for the mime. Nritta is completely put to rest in this part of the Margam.

Thillana

It is the liveliest and makes the perfect ending for a recital. A combination of intrinsic foot work and captivating postures it is followed by the Mangalm. Through a Mangalam the dancer pays her salutations to the spectators, her guru and the orchestra and signs off the recital.

Balasaraswathi, a Bharathanatyam dancer better known as the queen of Abhinaya, compares a recital to the spiritual experience by a devotee entering the temple. According to her perception, the dancer enters the Gopuram (outer hall) of Allaripu, crosses the Ardhamandapam (half way hall) of Jathiswara. She then enters the great hall of Shabdam and the holy precinct of the deity in Varnam. On entering the Padam, one experiences the cool containment of entering the sanctum. Finally, the Thillana breaks into movement like a final burning of camphor. In conclusion, the dancer takes to her heart the deity she has so far glorified and ends with a devotional piece.

Arangretram:

Another term for Arangretram is Rangapravesham which means entering the stage. The first stage performance of a dancer is marked by her Arangratram. The dancer performs a complete Maargam in front of a huge audience comprising some gurus in the field, other artists, family and friends. It is through the Arangretram that a dancer proves to be a good dancer, and only after this can the dancers opt to be a professional.