Bha- Bhavam (means expression), Ra- Ragam (means music), Ta- Talam (means beat or rhythm) and Natyam– Natyam (means dance) in Tamil.
BHARATANATYAM
Where Creativity Has No Boundaries
The speciality of Bharatanatyam is that we can convey a message, idea or a story without speaking (only with the help of mudras).
Bharatanatyam is one of the most beautiful dance forms of our country. It is a wonderful way to foster a healthy mind, body and soul. It is a blend of expressions, melody and rhythm. Bharatanatyam is the combination of three elements Nritta,Nritya and Natya. Nritta highlights body movements and rhythm. Nritya gives emphasis to dance postures and body movements. Natya gives importance to drama and poems. Done with complete concentration the dance form is as good as yoga. We should try to learn such dance forms and preserve our Indian culture. It helps you to get connected with God and find internal peace. Bharatanatyam has a lot of health benefits but only a few are known to the world. Let me elaborate:
Provides a healthy heart:
It gives a wonderful cardio workout, improves blood circulation, tones muscles and is good for bone density as it is a contact exercise. It helps in circulating and pumping blood. Dance helps maintain and improves Cardiovascular Health.
Improves balance:
The basic posture of araimandi is simply a squat in which the knees are turned sideways. Bharatanatyam includes different postures, poses and movements. The different body movements are called Karanas which help in improving the balance of the body. There can be different postures such as standing on one foot that needs to be held on for a few seconds to improve the balance. Bharatanatyam is as beneficial to the body as yoga.
Improves flexibility:
Dance sequences create flexibility and mobility, strengthen the back pelvic floor and the respiratory system. Dance tremendously improves flexibility and increases the energy level.
Helps in controlling body weight:
Bharatanatyam improves the activity of the body muscles. A good performance requires regular and lengthy hours of practice. Regular dance practice helps to lose weight and control weight. The difficult body movements, jumps and hand gestures use a lot of energy and requires the burning of calories. This helps to lose excessive body weight.
Improves concentration:
While performing Bharatanatyam, one needs to remember the mudras and hastas to perform well. It requires a lot of concentration and attention to remember all this correctly. As a dancer needs to remember a lot of movements and steps it helps in improving the mental skills, concentration and mental alertness.
Mental benefits of dance:
Bharatanatyam can have great cognitive and psychological impacts. Studies show that dance helps reduce stress. A performer needs to remember steps, names of the various steps, different moves, the beats and rhythm of the song. With all this, a dancer has to pay attention if the body movements are in sync. This hones the mental skills and builds mental alertness. Develops observation skills and physical adaptability to learn. Moreover, Bharatanatyam dancers have been proven to possess more confidence.
Increases stamina:
Araimandi (squat) Almost every step in Bharatanatyam will involve the dancer sitting in the Araimandi posture. Muzhumandi/ Poorna mandi (full sit) keeping the legs in the same position works on thigh strength. The body movements are sometimes tough and the postures are needed to be held for a few seconds. Thus, it increases the stamina to hold postures.
Bharatanatyam is a very good form of workout. Bharatanatyam can be a great activity to keep fit.
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