Learning Bharathanatyam

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It’s interesting, this dance where my feet meet the ground with a clap, the vibrations shaking the bones in my soles. I was born in a country where traditional was a flapper doing swing in the 50s. Bharatanatyam is over 300 years old, originally danced by men, though now there are more women dancers than men, it was a tribute to the gods and was intended for the eyes of the gods only. Today it is a fading relic.

With India’s progression comes a loss of traditional value. Young people don’t want to learn traditional dance because it is not “cool”. They are losing an interest in their heritage. They would much rather talk on their cell phones and parade the newest mall. Of course there are certain events that have occurred to cause disinterest in traditional dance, but I don’t believe it is a major factor. Over the years its divinity has been tarnished with the taint of human desires. The creation of the Devadasi, “servant of God”, which was a group of women from all castes who wanted to worship their gods with dance, was polluted by men who wanted to sleep with them. As the women of the upper castes had the freedom to stop their dancing and escape these men, the women of the lower castes did not and Devadasi turned into something negative and still takes advantage of lower caste women even today.

So again I will say that I find it interesting, being from the U.S. that I am learning a dance that is slowly being disregarded by its own people. It makes me think about my own culture and how much I have chosen not to learn and how that most of my generation is probably like me. What will happen as these values are lost? Though it is not part of my cultural heritage I feel a strong drive to promote this dance in an effort to increase cultural awareness. All new generations are going to change the face of a culture, but it’s important to keep certain things at the heart which will be a good foundation for every generation after.

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