It really all started with Devdas, the extravagant Hindi period piece that was my third Indian film viewing experience. One of the main things I noticed in it and other later Hindi films was the distinct, beautiful dance styles of the actresses. Hands gestured in certain ways and postures and movements were defined along a similar plane. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, and it took a while before I discovered the connection of filmi Indian dance with Classical Indian Dance.
I had never seen anything as beautiful and as mesmerizing as Classical Indian Dance. I still haven't. It's vocabulary of movement was unlike anything I had seen, and I couldn’t believe that modern choreographers in the US were not more familiar with these forms and all the wonderful motions they prescribed. The dances I watched intently were so grounded and earthy. Rows of bells/ghungroos on the feet added another dimension to the dance as artists, particularly in Kathak, created intricate aural soundscapes with only their feet!
Dance in its Indian incarnation was a whole body experience: matching the rhythm of the music with the feet, creating beautiful pure dance lines and geometric angles with the body, telling stories with the gestural language of the fingers and hands, communicating emotion with the eyes and face… stunning. The carnatic/hindustani musical accompaniment was obviously incredibly complex with its intricate meters and percussion. On top of that, the costumes and fabrics and temple jewelery were the most beautiful thing I’d laid eyes on, surpassing even Balinese dance. I wondered- how had I never seen these art forms before? Artists like Alarmel Valli, Nahid Siddiqui and Sujata Mohapatra blew me away. The theatrical world of Kathakali and other Malayalee dance forms could take a lifetime to study. I became so obsessed that I had an entire YouTube channel solely devoted to uploading recent and archival clips of famous exponents of the classical dance forms. Unfortunately, my channel later got shut down due to a copyright claim. I like to dream that it's still floating out in between some microchips somewhere...
I had never seen anything as beautiful and as mesmerizing as Classical Indian Dance. I still haven't. It's vocabulary of movement was unlike anything I had seen, and I couldn’t believe that modern choreographers in the US were not more familiar with these forms and all the wonderful motions they prescribed. The dances I watched intently were so grounded and earthy. Rows of bells/ghungroos on the feet added another dimension to the dance as artists, particularly in Kathak, created intricate aural soundscapes with only their feet!Dance in its Indian incarnation was a whole body experience: matching the rhythm of the music with the feet, creating beautiful pure dance lines and geometric angles with the body, telling stories with the gestural language of the fingers and hands, communicating emotion with the eyes and face… stunning. The carnatic/hindustani musical accompaniment was obviously incredibly complex with its intricate meters and percussion. On top of that, the costumes and fabrics and temple jewelery were the most beautiful thing I’d laid eyes on, surpassing even Balinese dance. I wondered- how had I never seen these art forms before? Artists like Alarmel Valli, Nahid Siddiqui and Sujata Mohapatra blew me away. The theatrical world of Kathakali and other Malayalee dance forms could take a lifetime to study. I became so obsessed that I had an entire YouTube channel solely devoted to uploading recent and archival clips of famous exponents of the classical dance forms. Unfortunately, my channel later got shut down due to a copyright claim. I like to dream that it's still floating out in between some microchips somewhere...
