Bharatanatyam is a South Indian classical dance form. It is the modernized version of an ancient ritual art form that was practiced by female temple attendants in the region of Tamil Nadu for thousands of years. It consists of distinctive dance movements, rhythmic foot and arm movements, and storytelling, in which particularly important are the symbolic hand and finger gestures as well as the facial expressions. It takes years of practice in close connection with a teacher to master the art form.
Traditionally, Bharatanatyam has been presented as a solo performance. Dance numbers can be either nritta, in which the movement carries no meaning, or abhinaya, in which the dancer can mime a full story or even discuss abstract ideas through her dance. A traditional Bharatanatyam concert may last for a couple of hours and often follows the margam format. A margam starts and ends with pure dance and its central piece is the varnam, a demanding number, where nritta and abhinaya portions follow one another for half an hour or more. A classical Carnatic music ensemble, together with the conductor, who plays the nattuvangam, accompanies a Bharatanatyam artist’s performance.
In Finland, there are only a handful of practitioners and the dance form remains largely unknown to a wider audience.
