The art of dance is created through the symbol of movements. Cadences of
movements are combined in different permutation and combinations to
make dance patterns. In Bharatanatyam, “The small units of dance
patterns which emerge as a coordinated pattern of movement of the feet,
thighs, torso, arms, hands, neck, head and the eyes is known as
adavu.”
The name
adavu falls from the word “
adaibu” meaning to integrate
cadences of movement into dance patterns. It is actually a Tamil word,
for the Sanskrit word “
karana.” “The
adavus of Bharatanatyam have
like
karanas, the
sthanaka, the basic standing position; the
chari, the
movement of the leg and the feet; and the
nrittahasta, the decorative
hand gesture.” These are the common points between
adavu and
karana.
Adavus form the base for all the major dance patterns called the
korvais
and
jatis. These different dance patterns form the
nritta of
Bharatanatyam.
Araimandi – the fundamental feature of Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam adopts the
araimandi as its fundamental stance and thus
limits its movements to those that stay close to the ground level only.
Its use of aerial space is pretty much nil. The posture of
araimandi is
described thus: “In Bharatanatyam, the principal stance of the dancer is
one in which the body is broken up into a series of triangles. The
triangle is formed with the line joining the two knees (flexed and
outstretched as in the demi plie in the first position of the classical
ballet) as the base and with its apex at the heels (where the feet are
outturned as in the first position of the ballet). Another triangle is
formed with the waist as the apex and the line joining the knees as the
base. A third triangle is conceived with the waist as the apex and line
joining the shoulder as its base. This is further emphasized by the
outstretched arms, which make yet another triangle in space on either
side of the vertical median. The flexed position of the knees known as
the
ardha mandali is an imperative in Bharatanatyam and the entire dance
is executed with a few accepted exceptions in this position. The leg
extensions, the jumps and the pirouettes all emphasize this and the
entire technique of dance – cadences is one which deliberately seeks to
emphasize covering of space, in terms of many varied triangular
patterns.”
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