Bharatanatyam Beats

Alisha Kalyanpur,Bharatanatyam Dancer from Inventure Academy

Alisha Kalyanpur of Grade 7 of Inventure Academy performed her first Bharatanatyam Stage performance on 16th Jan 2010.Kriti Varghese, her classmate interviews her……read on……..

Q- I heard that Bharatanatyam depicts stories. What stories do they usually depict?
A- Well, they usually depict stories on gods or goddesses. It is not like all of them depict stories though; the first few dances you do are only for stamina or are only actions.

Q- What is your favourite part of Bharatanatyam and why?
A- Well, my favourite dances are called padams. Every padam has a story and they are easy to remember. They are also energetic because most of them are usually stories that contain fights or wars. The moral is usually good triumphs over evil.

Q- How long have you been doing Bharatanatyam and have you worked hard to get to where you are today?
A- I have been doing Bharatanatyam for six years. It is tiring and you have to have a good will power . A lot of people stop because there are phases where it gets really boring and they do not want to continue.

Q- How long do you usually practice and when do you practice?
A- On week days, I practice for 20-30 minutes. On Saturdays, I practice for 1-2 hours.

Q- I heard that your Arangetram is coming up. Are you excited?
A- In the beginning, I was not excited because I thought that it would be a lot of hard work and I would have to miss school a lot. But now, I am starting to enjoy being famous and I realize that it is a really big thing in my life and it is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Q- Why did u start Bharatanatyam?
A- My present Guru began a dance class in our residential complex. I thought I would try it out and after a year or two , I got totally grooved into it.

Q- How do you feel when you do Bharatanatyam?
A- Well, I usually think about the next step and I like doing it in front of an audience because then I usually do better.


Q- What is an Arangetram?
A- I will be performing one varnam, one padam and the rest are under the able guidance of my teacher. A varnam is 45 minutes and a padam is 10 minutes.

Q- Why does a varnam take so much time? What does it depict?
A- Well, first of all, you choose a god. Then, you depict a short introduction for the god and then proceed to portray the story linked to it.

Well that tells us two things-
1. Bharatanatyam is a very interesting dance that takes a lot of time.
2. Everyone has a chance to shine. You just need to take that chance and make something out of it.

Kriti Varghese
Grade 7B