Balasaraswati

Born to the tradition. 1918 - 1984

The Feel

Dance is taken into you through sight and sound, but the full effect of what you are experiencing when watching a dance performance transcends what can be physically experienced by your senses. Dance has to be felt!

Music - Visually

Bharatanatyam, is a variety of natya yoga that reveals the spiritual through the physical and emotional body. "Bharatanatyam, in its highest moment, is the embodiment of music in a visual form".

Natyashastra

Bharatanatyam is the dance that encompasses music, rhythm and expressional dance or Abhinaya and strictly adheres to the Natyashastra

Bharatanatyam is an art oceanic in width and depth. I have taken you a few steps on its shore. I hope the vision you have had of this ocean will inspire you to dive into it and cull its pearls yourself.

History

THE GREATEST BLESSING of bharatanatyam is its ability to control the mind. Most of us are incapable of single-minded contemplation even when actions are abandoned. On the other hand, actions are not avoided; there is much to do but it is the harmony of various actions that results in the concentration we seek.

Her Life

IT WAS MY good fortune to have been born into a family whose traditions of music and dance were the focus of life for generations. Although it is well known that my grandmother's grandmother, Kamakshiammal, danced and sang in the court of Tanjore, it is important to point.

Her Music

"BALASARASWATI - ONE OF the world's greatest dancers-was the supreme mistress of her art. She revealed the sacred origins of bharatanatyam as no one else could-and she did so through the absolute purity of her dancing.

Training

slap of the foot, ringing of the bells, magic of the hands, face and body, surety of the beat, soaring of the voice, flute, drum, evoking the spirit, bhakti, bhava, imbibing the mortal with rasa of life, love, god, all one and the same only one can guru ....