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During the Maratha period in the 17th century, King Tulaja I patronised the art of dancing as is evident from his text Sangita Saramrta.
It is the first scientific treatise to codify and methodologically give
the adavus of Sadir (Bharatanatyam) which were in vogue in the 17th
century. It describe snearly 13 groups of adavus or the basic
dance units as mentioned in a valuable section apportioned to the
practice of dance called Srama vidhi (practice) in a dance chapter called Nrttaprakarana.
This valuable section also gives the Samskrtam names with their Tamil
and Telugu equivalents, notably of the varieties of foot beats, called padakuttana in Samskrtam and adavu
in the practicing tradition of the dance form. Their description and
the relevant sollukattus (rhythmic syllables) are also mentioned. This
brings us very close to the present day practice of Bharatanatyam which
too, as is natural, is undergoing some changes. (‘A comparative study of the ‘Padakuttana’ or ‘adavu’ groups of Sangita Saramrta with the present practicing tradition of Bharatanatyam’ by Aditi Nigam Batra, Nartanam, Jan-Mar 2017) |
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While touring in 1904 with the famous producer and
director David Belasco, Ruth St. Denis saw a poster of the Egyptian
goddess Isis, portrayed enthroned in a temple to advertise the Egyptian
Deities cigarettes. St. Denis fell under the spell of the poster, which
she found so powerful that she made a spontaneous decision to create
dances that would express the kind of mysticism she saw in the poster.
From that moment on, the dancer studied Oriental philosophies, art, and
dances. (‘The dancers Ruth St. Denis and Roshanara each claimed the more “authentic” form of Indian dance’ by Tijana Radeska, The Vintage News, Oct 26, 2017) |
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