Posted by Asha (193.129.6.28) on July 11, 2005 at 09:55:35:

 In Reply to: Balasaraswati

Posted by Douglas Knight on July 09, 2005 at 12:15:57:

 Can you elaborate on 'Other women in previous generations, like her mother Jayammal and her grandmother Dhanammal practiced dance privately (not performed, but danced as an expression of the music). '?

I am interested to know how they actually danced privately...was it in front of the God in the temple, like the devadasis did (where she sang and danced alone)...or was it dancing in their own home without an audience.

Also you mentioned that these women danced with the music privately. Can you elaborate on that as well? Did they sing and danced at the same time or was there someone from the family singing for her and she danced with that other person's music?

If indeed the woman sang and danced at the same time, would there be a lot of mouthing of words when she did abhinaya? If she were to dance a varnam privately, how did she manage to dance and sing it at the same time, without someone to recite the jathis for her?

I appreciate if you could give me more insight through these questions. I am curious about how they practised their art. Certainly it seems different from the way we are practising it nowadays.