A Brief Look at Bharatanatyam

Dance began as a form of communication and storytelling. Thousands of years ago dancing served as a way for people to tell a story and helped distract themselves of the hardships they faced. Furthermore, dance was a form of storytelling through communication, which then turned into using storytelling through dance as entertainment. According to the History World, many dancers during the BC time danced in front of only a few people to get a story across. That later turned into hundreds of thousands of people as dance was used by many. Today, dance is also a form of entertainment and storytelling, but in a modern sense. However, today perfection and technique are stressed more than they were in the past. Yet, the passion for dance has not changed. Many dancers who share this passion also have many of the same qualities. Among a discourse community of trained dancers, one expects to find individuals who are healthy and active athletes, expect perfection from themselves through competition, and religiously attend dance performances.

In Bharati Mukherjee’s “Two Ways to Belong in America,” she outlines how she and her sister, Mira, came to the United States from India to have a more privileged life while gaining their education and pursuing their dreams. As time went by, changes in immigration laws strickened and it took away benefits from resident aliens. They both realized that changing and becoming an American citizen was necessary in order to achieve the American dream they initially migrated for. Mukherjee (Bharati) was more open minded and she loved America, so she was more willing to stay in America and become a legal citizen. On the other hand, Mira was more reserved with her Indian culture and returning to her homeland, yet she wanted to stay temporarily in

In my interview with Sumanyu Gupta, we discussed the many facets of Indian Bollywood music. We discussed several of these aspects at length including the unique storytelling structure of Bollywood songs, the deep meaning and role of Bollywood as an emotional “escape” for Indian people, as well as the growing amount of western influence heard in Bollywood music. I will begin my paper by briefly discussing some key instruments and integral concepts utilized in Bollywood, followed by the cultural significance of Bollywood, including Sumanyu’s personal account. From there, I will dig deeper into the changes being made due to westernization.

Rukmini Devi who is often regarded as the face of the modern form of Bharatnatyam was the first teacher of this dance form who taught this dance form to both male and female

I have to respectfully disagree with Rachel Stermer’s claim that General Hooker having a greater rank then Colonel Robert Shaw represented a class bias because General Hooker received a monument more significant than that of Colonel Shaw. The Colonel could not be a victim of class bias because he himself came from one of the most prominent families in Boston, and was a member of Boston’s elite Brahmin caste: “A class representative of what Oliver Wendell Holmes had dubbed the “Brahmin caste” and its symbol of moral superiority, he came from one of the city’s wealthiest and most venerable families” (Kessler 34). Thus, since both Shaw and Hooker were members of prestigious social circles, one could not be biased towards the other because their economic status was

Most if not all of the musicians of this culture make up the music as they go. Instead of having music passed down from generation to generation based off of healing rituals they enjoy alternating rhythm and notes to improvise works for the enjoyment of viewers. Because Indian culture has existed for over 5,000 years, “the timbres, forms, and instrumentation of Indian pop music continue to evolve in extremely varied and creative ways.” (p.276) The appreciation of these unique qualities greatly influence the Indian culture and are a common form in most compositions. Our textbook states, “A concert in South India is marked by a string of songs, each in a specific rage and tala. While the song may be performed alone for its own intrinsic beauty, the principle musician may choose to perform one or more forms of improvisation before, within, or after the rendition of the song.”

This piece was choreographed by Steven Rosa. The music that were used for this piece was a combination of three songs; the first song was by Vishal Dadlani, the second one was just a music by Shekhar Ravjiani, and the last one was a song by Daler Mehndi. This performance piece represented the Indian traditional dance. It was performed by twelve dancers including two boys and ten girls. They were divided in four teams, each team had a different color for their costume. This dance got the audience attention from the first minute they started to perform on the stage. One of the thing that grabbed the audience attention was the colorful customs that the dancers used for this specific dance. The dancers danced in-groups as well as in-lines. Also they were really organized on the stage. Appropriately, the dancers displayed synchronized and athletic movements with lots of Indian traditional dance movement. The repetitive beating of the drum in the background music helped to portray the momentum and the energy. The dancers tended to change the look of their customs while they dancing which created the feeling of watching multiple dances in one. The dancers were well communicate very well with each other and communicate very well with the audience as a group. This helped the dance to come out really interesting. The ending of the dance was so positive and appropriate finish. Overall, this dance was one of the best

Stories about the past delineates the future and “The Inconvenient Indian” takes this axiom and exhibits through the warp and weft of history why the stories we tell matter, mainly because Canada’s story commonly surrounds their tense relationship with First Nations people. Most Canadians’ knowledge of Native American histories, cultures, and circumstances is abysmal. This is caused by certain part of history being emphasized and other aspects neglected by people and secondary institutions that have become more dominant by the stories they convey about the past. When it comes to history, fact and fiction are recurrently intertwined. If history is just the stories about the past, and nothing more, Canada would not be what it is today.

Although neither region experienced tremendous stability, the early states of China and modern-day India consistently followed their own styles of state-building practices. These powerful states in East and South Asia, respectively, used quite different methods of state-building, with their techniques greatly mirroring their different levels of desired interaction with outsiders. While the Chinese focused on state-building from within, the empires of modern-day India were more open to outsiders and their potential contributions to Indian society.

Abu al-Hindi, though not a member of ISIS, is a radical Muslim who has been spreading his extreme beliefs throughout the St. Louis community. During a gathering near his mosque, al-Hindi gave a speech where he stated: “A time may soon come when we must act against the infidels. When that time does come, we will not be afraid to wage war against our enemy. Blood will be shed, and all martyrs will find salvation.” A follower of al-Hindi posted his speech on a blog that is visited by radical Muslims. A few days after this occurred; a man was arrested for attempting to blow up a MetroLink train. Although he was not a loyal follower of al-Hindi, he had visited the same blog site that al-Hindi’s speech was posted on. To explain

There are many religions that relate to one another in more ways than one. Hinduism is a very interesting religion to study. There is a lot of history know in Hinduism. Hindu’s themselves believe in many different rituals and activities that will bring enlightenment to their souls. This one religion bases most of its religious aspect on the end, in death. What is interesting about this is Hindus spend a lot of time doing certain rituals to cleanse their souls so they can achieve peace. This religion alone also has a very interesting line of gods they worship. This paper will explain these different concepts, beginning with a Hindu’s life story..

For most people religion usually signifies a unified belief in one god and has a set structure of a system of practices. Hinduism is different from all other religions in that aspect. The Hindu religion has no founder, core beliefs that are defined, guided by common scripture, or a central authority, and has 900 million followers (Carabajal ppt).

Famous music composer, Ludwig van Beethoven once rightly quoted “Music is a higher revelation than philosophy”. Indeed, music has higher magnitude than just being a mere form of entertainment- it plays a significant role in our society be it politics or religion or even academics. So important is music’s value that it has been recorded throughout history of mankind in numerous ancient writings including the sacred Hindu scripture, Veda. Thus it is no surprise that even today the value and contribution of music has not declined but on the contrary, risen.

Bharatanatyam is a Sanskrit word, which means the dance of Bharata (India). True to its name, it is one of the oldest and most popular dance forms of India. It originated in the temples of Southern India and was later codified and documented as a performing art by the Tanjore Quartet. It is now the most popular Indian classical dance and is appreciated worldwide.

There are eight individual and unique classical dances in India. Each has its own distinctive dance movements, make-up, and costumes. The classical dance forms that have developed in India all have set rules which have been followed traditionally over the years. This set of rules that the classical dances follow is called the Natya Shastra. This is the ancient text that all Indian classical dances obey by in order for them to be called a “classic”. The eight forms that have succeeded in reaching the conventions of the Natya Shastra are: the Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, Kathak, Manipuri, Odissi, Mohiniyattam, and Sattriya. Among all eight of these dances I argue that Bharatanatyam is the most elite form of all these dances