The Dawn of Passion

Dance – An art, Science and beyond!

Dance is an art, paint your dream and follow it. It is a natural form of self-expression and a means to express our inner feelings, thoughts and experience in a beautiful way. Dance enables us to tell a story with the help of gestures and expressions. Is there a science behind the art of dance? Many things stimulate our brains. Scientists are not sure why we like movement so much, but there is certainly a lot of unreliable evidence to believe it to be true. Some studies show that dance increases levels of the feel-good hormone serotonin, and helps develop new neural connections. Dance can support emotional competence and can turn the emotional expression into an art. When we become aware of our feelings and move them out of our physical body through dance, we begin to embrace our humanity while we give it an artistic expression. That is when dance touches our soul. Dance has proven to be a beautiful art form with a meaningful scientific theory behind it. However, does the magic of Dance end there? The answer is a definite no. Dance is something beyond all these. Have you heard of the word therapy? I am sure yes, as it is a quite commonly used term these days. Dance, is now being considered as a therapy in few countries and is referred to as Dance / Movement Therapy or DMT. It is a type of therapy that uses various movements to help individuals achieve emotional, physical and social integration. It is beneficial for both physical and mental health, dance therapy can be used for various aspects like stress reduction, body management, emotional balance, etc.

Dance – The Indian Heritage

India has a great heritage of dance and music, as part of its culture. Culture, in India, although diverse and varied, still binds the country together in some form of common identification. Indian dance has played a remarkable role in this unification. Dance in India has an unbroken tradition of over 2,000 years. Dancing is one of the most esteemed Indian arts as it incorporates melody and drama in the best possible way. Gestures, body positions and head movements are emphasized in Indian dance.  There are almost a thousand specific hand movements and signs, which are called Mudras. India is known for its diversity and can be seen in a variety of things. The key aspects of understanding diversity are different religious and cultural backgrounds.  In India, we find people speaking different languages, celebrating different festivals, eating different cuisines, following different art and culture but still live together happily. When we talk about art and culture, Dance is one of the main aspects of the Indian diversity. Each state has its own different traditional dance forms, which has its own beauty and specialty.

Indian Dance – A Perfect Epitome!

Indian dance is one of the most revered identities of our culture. We can broadly classify the Indian dance into two main genres – Classical and Folk Dance. The main difference between the two is the origin of these dance forms. Classical dance has a deep-rooted relationship with the Natya Shastra, whereas Folk dance emerged from the local tradition of the respective state, ethnic or geographic regions. The classical dance forms recognized by the Sangeet Natak Academy and the Ministry of Culture are –

1. Bharatanatyam, from Tamil Nadu

She is a professional Bharatanatyam Dancer and Guru, who has rich experience in the field of Indian Classical Dance. She is an elegant dancer who had started her journey of dance at the tender age of five and has accumulated many achievements in her bucket during her long professional journey. She has been my Guru and an inspiration in my passionate journey of Dance.

She is a professional Bharatanatyam Choreographer and Guru with rich experience in the field of Indian Classical Dance. She is a Dance Teacher in an International school and also a registered Teacher in Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Mumbai. She choreographs and trains her students for various programs and competitions across the country. She has been my biggest inspiration and mentor in the field of dance since last few years.

2. Kuchipudi, from Andhra Pradesh

Abhinaya is a Pharma professional, working with Novartis Healthcare Pvt. Ltd in Hyderabad. She is a trained dancer and performer in the field of Kuchipudi dance. She started her passionate dance journey at a very young age and has performed across the country and outside as well. She is passionate for the art of dance and is a bunch of immense talent with experience in learning various Indian and Western dance styles along with the main form of Kuchipudi. She is a very close family friend of mine and has been a great supporter and motivator me in my journey of Dance.

Dhruvi is the daughter of one of my very close friends Dr. Harivardhigini and is studying in Grade V at Delhi Public School, Nacharam. She has been passionate for dance right from her childhood days and has been learning professional Kuchipudi dance under her guru Smt. Adapa Bharani garu from the age of 5 years. She has performed in various events across the state and also participated in many competitions and created a unique name for herself in this field. She continuous to enjoy other western styles of dance along with Kuchipudi under the guidance of her super talented mother, who is a passionate and a lovely dancer herself. Dhruvi stands as an example to many other children of her age in taking forward our Indian culture and heritage to a higher level.

3. Kathak, from Uttar Pradesh

Esha Chakraborty is a Pharma professional working at Novartis Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad. She had started her journey of dance at the very young age of 4 years. She is an elegant and trained dancer in various Indian and Western dance forms like Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Rabindra Nritya (Bengali Folk Dance Style), Contemporary and Hip-Hop. She has been part of various dance performances and various competitions across the country. She had got the privilege to perform for Tedx and Global Entrepreneur Summit 2017. She is one of my close friends and an amazing mentor in my passionate journey of dance in recent times. She had always encouraged and supported me and I had a great privilege to perform in her choreography for many dance performances. She is a bunch of talent and the best example of the Dance fusion styles with rich exposure in Indian and Western Dance styles.

4. Mohiniattam, from Kerala

She is a passionate dancer and daughter of one of school teachers Mr. Rajan Achari. She has started dancing at a young age and enjoy the art form very much. She has performed in various occasions and contribute towards showcasing the loveliest form of Mohiniattam from Kerala, which is known as one of the best and elegant dances of India.

5. Odissi, from Orissa

Kelucharan Mohapatra was a legendry Indian classical dancer, guru and exponent of Odissi dance. He was the first person to receive the Padma Vibhushan from Orissa. He led a 20th – century revival of Odissi, a centuries-old style of dance associated with temples of Orissa and one of the principle forms of Indian classical dance. He stood as an inspiration to many people, especially male dancers to live their passion for dance and accept the art as their careers with a positive spirit.

6. Kathakali, from Kerala

Guru Chandrasekharan was an Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor of Kathakali. He was born in Trivandrum and practiced Kathakali under Nedumudi Narayan Kurup, who was also an artist under the patronage of the Royal Palace of Travancore. Later he organized his own troupe and conducted performances in major cities of India. He stands as an inspiration to many dancers, who are passionate towards this dance form.

Kanak Rele is an Indian Dancer, choreographer and academics best known as an exponent of Mohiniyattam and Kathakali. She was born in Gujrat and had started her journey of dance at the age of 7. She is the founder-director of the Nalanda Dance Research Centre and the founder-principal of the Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya in Mumbai.

7. Manipuri, from Manipur

Elam Endira Devi is an Indian classical dancer and teacher, known for her expertise and scholarship in the classical dance form of Manipuri. She started learning Manipuri dance at the early age of eight years. She secured her BA and MA in Manipuri Culture and Literature, in 1979, from Guwahati University. The Government of India honored her, in 2014, with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her services to the field of art and culture.

8. Sattriya, from Assam

Krishnakshi Kashyap is an Indian Sattriya Danseuse, cultural ideapreneur and a social entrepreneur. She is trained in two classical dance forms of India, Bharatanatyam and Sattriya. She now engages herself in the promotion and propagation of Sattriya dance, the living tradition of Assam. Krishnakshi is the disciple of Sangeet Natak Academi awardee Shri Ramakrishna Talukdar in Sattriya and trained in Bharatnatyam under Sangeet Natak Academi awardee Smt. Indira P P Bora. She had started her dance training at the tender age of six years .

Indian Folk Dance – India’s rich diversity

Indian folk dance is a simple dance, which is performed to express joy and happiness among themselves. It is performed for every possible occasion in all parts of India as per their respective cultures and traditions. Folk art is the common procession of a group of people or a particular locality. Each state has its own set of traditional folk dance forms, which has a specific costume. Folk dances are proudly knows as the hidden treasures of India, which is absolutely true. The simplicity and the beauty in each of these traditional folk dances is exceptional in its own way. Every Indian state has more than one folk dance forms based on the culture and tradition of the districts and villages of the states. I, personally, had a rich and an amazing journey with the folk dance styles as part of my dance life. I have got an opportunity to learn and enjoy the experience of various Indian folk dances like Garba, Bhangra, Rajasthani Ghoomar, Bihu, Sambhalpuri, Lavani, Koli and Bonalu.

Dance – The new gimmick for fitness!

The new mantra in today’s world of fitness is “get fit the dance way”. People are seeing dance as a whole body workout that is full of fun. Dance, in a form of exercise is good for our heart, it makes us stronger and can help with balance and coordination. A 30-minute dance fitness session might burn between 130 and 250 calories. Many dance enthusiasts believe that it can benefit both the physical and mental health and subsidizes social communication. Dancing has a wide range of physical and mental benefits including improved condition of the heart and lungs, increased muscular strength, improved muscle tone and strength, weight management, agility and flexibility and many more to be added to the list. One might feel the science behind it is too technical but the facts remain that these are very minute yet important aspects which we neglect in our day to day life. I am one amongst the people who believe that dance can be one of the best form to get yourself on toes with a healthy and fit body. I personally feel, any type of exercise, if done with love and passion, helps your body to get the expected results. I have had been part of few such dance fitness routines and observed the process closely. It is one of the most happening fitness routines across India. A single dance fitness routine includes warm-up, cardio (main workout) followed by the cool-down or stretching session.

My Fascinating Dance Journey – Pictorial Way!

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The Way Forward!

It’s been nearly 30 years since Dance has been part of my life in various ways. The common thing in all these years is the happiness which it has given me and helped me become a strong and better person altogether. I started to enjoy this wonderful art of dance as a hobby during my childhood and moving forward it turned into a passion. To keep the passion alive and to keep motivating ourselves, I along with my bestie Swapna Soma have started a dance YouTube channel named “Just Naach”. The main purpose to start this channel is to just share our passion with the world without any commercial aspect of it. I have always believed if we follow our passion, it will lead us to our purpose. For a short period of time, I had experienced Dance as a profession by sharing my experience and learnings with the school children, which further gave me a wonderful exposure. As the age goes up, it started helping me as a therapy for my medical concerns both physically and mentally. In the present scenario, dance is helping me to be fit in all ways. Further going, I want to enjoy every bit of my passion for Dance till the end in whichever way possible. I dance not to impress but to express. For me, Dance is just not an art or a passion, it’s a never ending journey of my life and I wish this journey continues till eternity!!!

Thanks for being with me in this first step of my passionate journey. Looking forward for your support and encouragement in having a wonderful journey here. Please share your feedback and observations in the comments. Cheers!