Katha Kalakshepam

In my previous post, I talked extensively about the instruments of rhythm and beat in a Bharatanatyam of Kuchipudi performance. I did not really touch on the flute, violin, and veena, but they are present for the tune and melody of the performance while the singer sings. In this post, I would like to talk more specifically about the type of music that these dance performances use foundationally. 

Carnatic music is intimately tied to southern Indian classical dances. The name comes from the term Karnataka Sangeetham, which means “traditional music” in Sanskrit. It is based on three foundational principles: Raga, Bhaava, and Taala.  

Ragas are music scales. They are certain scales that every song is in. These include Mohanam, Kalyani, Shankarabharanam, and Maya Maalava Gowlai. There are different classes of ragas and the song’s raga (or ragas) tell the singer how specifically to sing the song by providing base melodies. The scales, much like the western Do Re Mi, have specific names denoting each note. While there are several of each note (denoting, flat, sharp, etc.), they all function in different ragas as a set. These notes are: Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Da, Ni, Sa (in ascending order). 

The second principle is bhava: This refers to the emotions and feelings in a piece. Much like modern western music where one can tell what mood a song is giving based on the singer’s tone of voice, a carnatic artist has ways to ensure the audience knows what type of song it is. In Carnatic music, Hinduism is a big aspect, so many devotional songs involve the singer singing with the utmost devotion for a deity. Bhava also includes how a singer emotes the base melody. There is a way to make the notes flow together instead of simply singing them, and this is where gamakams come in. These are oscillations of the voice that many commonly associate with Indian music- they are a hallmark of Carnatic music. This bhava is important in dance because it helps emphasize the emotions that a dancer is portraying on stage. 

The third and arguably most important in regards to dance step sequences is taala. Now, taala is important because it tells us the types of beats and what steps go with those beats. In Kuchipudi, the jathis (series of step sequences) are denoted by the names of the taalams they are associated with (tisra (3 count), Chaturasra (4 count), Khanda (5 count), Misra (7 count), and Sankeerna (9 count). In Carnatic music, singers keep their beat by keeping taalam with their right hand, using a combination of hand movements called dritham, lagu, and anudritham that are striked on the right knee. 

In this way, Carnatic music builds a foundation for southern dance forms to create a curriculum. These foundational elements result in beautiful songs that can either be sung on their own or reworked to be added into a dance performance. Making a song for dance involves inserting verbal percussion (as previously discussed) if not already integrated into the song (like a thillana, which is a song that is fundamentally existing as a dance piece). In the case of Kuchipudi, it also involves repeating one line more than a couple times due to the different iterations of the same line the dancer will perform on stage. 

These song and dance traditions developed together in similar time periods, so it makes sense that they are so intimately connected.

As another slight departure from my stories of the classical dances, I wanted to focus more on the other aspects of a performance that are fundamental for the dance to go properly. In the Natya Shastra, it is written that there are certain external conditions for a successful performance, like a diverse audience, musicians, costuming, and more. In order to perform intricate step sequences, music and rhythm is of utmost importance. Today I will be focusing on south Indian dance forms Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam and how music can make or break a piece.

Both forms follow the principles of Carnatic music, which is a musical form originating from south India. It has its own rules and scales that make up the foundational principles of Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam.

It is important to first realize that music and dance are interrelated. In a Kuchipudi or Bharatanatyam piece, the performance is not complete without a singer, a mridangist and nattuvangam keeping beat, and other instruments like the flute and veena. Evidently, there are several parts to the music. Let’s break it down. This post will discuss in depth how beat is kept in music. In later posts, I will break down the other aspects.

The mridangist is a person who plays the mridangam, a traditional Indian drum that is drummed on either side with the hands. In both Kuchipudi and bharatanatyam, steps often follow varying beat patterns. In carnatic music, there are several classes of beats, like Tisra (three beat) Chaturasra (four beat) Sankeerna (nine beat), and many more. In order to keep the singer on track and make the music match with their step sequence, the mridangist has to keep the beat through their drumming. The nattuvangam also works in tandem with this. Where the mridangam is the low, rumbling background noise that keeps the entire ensemble on beat, the nattuvangam contributes sharp, high pitched clangs that serve to keep the dancer on beat with the music. The nattuvangam is an instrument that is often welded by dance teachers on stage as their students perform. It consists of two small hand symbols that are hit in various ways against each other exactly mirroring the sounds the dancer’s bells make on stage as they go through the sequences. The nattuvangist often accompanies their instrument with verbal percussion. This includes words that have no other meaning than to keep the dancer on track and echo what is happening on stage. This includes sentences like:

“Thakita dhimitha janutha that thakitha tham” .

None of these words possess any meaning except to be tied with a step sequence that the dancer is performing. This is one of the hallmarks of classical dance music, and has its own twists and flavor based on the dance form. When one first starts learning steps in any of the dance forms, they will quickly realize that each step and movement has its own name and own way of verbal percussion, based on the type of rhythm it has. It is a feature quite unique to forms on the Indian subcontinent, though it does exist elsewhere.

Today I want to take a bit of a departure from my usual content on Hindu mythology and classical dance to talk about some issues in the modern sphere of classical dance on a global scale.

I have previously mentioned the Kalakshetra Foundation in my blog posts. It is a world-renowned Bharatanatyam and classical music institution based in Chennai, India. The word “Kalakshetra” is synonymous with its many many globally famous students and teachers, whom make up a large part of the Bharatanatyam field today. It was founded by the woman who is often hailed as the trailblazer and revivalist of modern-day Bharatanatyam, Rukmini Devi Arundale. The foundation teaches the Kalakshetra style of Bharatanatyam, which is considered to be one of its more famous forms.

In an institution such as this, which is the pinnacle of cultural restoration and appreciation, what could be the problem? After all, Bharatanatyam itself is alive and well.

The horrifying answer to this is sexual harrassment. It is reported by multiple Indian sources that in the Rukmini Devi College of the Fine Arts, a senior dance faculty member has sexual misconduct allegations against them. The complaint included the sexual harassment allegations, their abuse of their power, and other violations. It is also reported that a local NGO called CAREspaces was able to make a safe space for those involved with or in the college to discuss this matter. They found that over 100 people voiced concern or frustration with this matter and the way it was handled.

So what exactly happened after the complaint?

Kalakshetra said they investigated the complaint. They posted a public note on their website that stating that and the fact that they found the complaint to be false. They took no further action except to post another note some time later discouraging people from talking about this matter (by indicating that gossiping is bad (?) which is funny considering their flippant treatment of a sexual harassment complaint). They also alleged that this allegation was a part of false and old rumors spread about the foundation in an attempt to tarnish its reputation.

There was outrage about this situation due to multiple different factors. The first one is that with a matter as serious as this, the full details of how they investigated or what ended up transpiring were never released, (even to the students in the college) leaving students to wonder how valid the false result of the complaint was.

Additionally, their investigation committee for concerns like this contains Revathi Ramachandran, who is the director of disciplinary committee as well, which poses a conflict of interest that was not addressed.

Overall, this situation was kept undercovers and treated very lightly for being something has horrible as sexual misconduct. These are the types of issues that need to also be boosted in the modern classical dance sphere. Although art is important, it is important to recognize that it does not inhabit its own plane of existence- great art happens in a real world, with real issues and real people. Therefore, putting an organization like Kalakshetra on a pedestal due to its contribution to the arts without acknowledging its real world issues is something that should not be done.

There is currently a fight to get Kalakshetra to take this situation seriously and face the consequences of their actions and internal structure.

Today I want to take a bit of a departure and talk about a very unique dance form amongst the classical dances of India. While many of the other forms are nowadays predominately female based, Kathakali is a longstanding tradition primarily performed by men. It originates from the southern state of Kerala and has a long and interesting history. Kathakali is an incredibly unique art form. Performers often wear large, elaborate costumes with wide skirts, bright colored face paint, and large headdresses. Watching a kathakali performance is very visually pleasing and colorful.

Kathakali is an art form based off earlier dance drama traditions in the same area. In the old days where many could not read or write, the primary method of transmitting stories from Hindu mythology to the public was through theatre and place. Hence, Kathakali developed as a way to interestingly portray different Hindu stories with strong visual symbolism. One theme that Kathakali often deals with is the triumph over evil by good. To represent this theme, villains are often represented with red marks on their face, while the main character is often portrayed with green paint. This type of visual representation is very common in Kathakali and serves to make it more clear to the audience as to who is supposed to have what intentions, curving the ambiguity.

Kathakali is also unique in that it is a dance drama (with plays) where the actors do not sing or speak. This can be considered similar to the noh theatre of Japan. However, in this case, actors rely on intricate and exaggerated facial expressions to express their points. The key in Kathakali is not to look natural when portraying a character, but to make it absolutely clear with a character is feeling in that moment. Eye, lip, and mouth movements are incredibly important and are enhanced by the makeup actors wear. Lips are painted bright red and eyes are lined black. Every part of the makeup is intentional.

A Kathakali performer must be very athletic and have very good balance. Although this is a dance drama tradition and not a solo performance tradition, step sequences are still crucial. A performer must not only be able to hold crisp hand gestures, but balance those with a good posture and precise feet movements, all while wearing a large and elaborate costume.

Another important part of a Kathakali performance is the orchestra. Like many Indian classical dances, a live orchestra enhances the performance. Because Kathakali is a drama based performance, having good musicians and singers is crucial for how a play is portrayed on stage. The drums and the gong are played by the main singer, and a second person plays the cymbals. For any scenes that require additional special effects, another type of drum and a conch shell are then used. The last instrument is actually tied to the dancers’ ankles. With most types of Indian classical dance, the dance is both an auditory and visual experience in that the dancers often have strings of bells tied around their ankles. Every time they make a movement, the beat is kept by the bells dancing along with them. I think this aspect of dance is quite interesting to think about because you can both see and hear dancers’ movements.

Today I wanted to take a bit of a pivot and talk about the art form of Kuchipudi. I want to talk a bit about the language that is part of its curriculum and how that helps to convey mythological stories that it often depicts through dance dramas and songs.

As previously mentioned, Kuchipudi is a classical dance native to the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It originally started as a drama based performance art. This basically means that performs would travel from town to town essentially putting on play style productions with songs in them that performers would dance to. Through these plays, they depicted various parts of Hindu mythology. Gradually, this form turned into a mix of both dance dramas and 10-20 minute long short solo performances that were purely song and dance, with no “lines” like a play would have, but rather, lyrics.

To depict Hindu mythology in the various capacities that it does, Kuchipudi, like many other classical dances, has developed its own form of language in the form of hand gestures and expressions. To understand this deeper, it is important to note that there are several different types of dance in Kuchipudi. One of them is pure emotions, intended to depict the character’s feelings. The other is pure dance, wherein the dancer uses foot and hand movements to dance to intricate sequences that have no emotional meaning. The third category is a combination of both.

In order to depict the emotional part of the dance and describe epics in Hindu mythology, there is a certain vocabulary that one must learn first that pertains to hand movements. They are called mudras. These mudras exist in many categories. First there are the asamyutha hasthas. These are single handed gestures that generally exist as the basic vocabulary. The two handed gestures are refered to as samyutha hasthas. Both of these combined are the very basic foundations of the new language one has to learn. An example of these hastas is tripura, which is a single handed movement wherein the dancer bends their thumb and ring fingers together, with the rest of the fingers standing straight. This has many meanings, but the most famous is the peacock feather that is known to represent the god Lord Krishna.

Another important category within this dance that is more so important for denoting characters and explaining mythology is devata hastas. These are a group of hand movements that denote different gods. There can be several ways to represent each god, but all the popular ways are denoted here. For example, one god, Vishnu, is often depicted with two outstretched palms side by side, with the ring fingers bent and the thumbs tucked in. These types of mudras are not only important to the dancer who is trying to depict a certain god, but important to know for those in the audience who are trying to understand the story.

While hand movements are important, expressions are equally important in this language. The expressions that dancers make fall into 9 general overarching categories called the navarasas. They use these nine categories to inform their portrayal of any character or situation.