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Nritya - Sampurna Samarpan Total Dedication - Alaknanda, Noida e-mail: info@kathakindia.org July 8, 2005  Dance is a boon to mankind which enables a person to express his / her feelings of joy / sorrow without the use of words. It's a sheer feeling of achievement when a person can also decorate the gift of God to man i.e. the body, with grace and expression through the medium of dance (Nritya). Nritya enhances an artist physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. There is a direct connection of rhythm and body. An artist practices to vibrate the instrument of nritya -body - on the sounds of drums and the music of the vocal chords. This unusual but graceful flow of the body requires a lot of riyaaz which builds up the stamina of an artist. Through this aspect of nritya, we are able to appreciate the masterpiece (body) created by the Almighty. Nritya has never been just a physical aspect. Especially, in our classical art-form, there is a continuous interaction between the body and mind. Without the mind, the body would be like a tree without roots, hence the perfection of dance would disappear. The mind guides an artist towards perfection, hence the mind and body work together to create the magic of nritya. Emotion plays an integral part in transforming a physical and mental exertion into a art. When the heart (mann) gets along with body and mind, an art evolves and the artist glows from within and transits the audience to a different world. For example, an artist playing the character of "Meera" has to feel her devotion for Krishna from within and forget her own identity. Justice to nritya is done when the rasikas (audience) remember only Meera and none other. In real life, emotions control man but an artist has to control his/her emotion and flow with the emotion of the character. This combination of the body, mind and heart create Nritya. Last but not the least, is the spiritual value of the art form which an artist treasures. It's an invisible bonding between an artist and the almighty, which is cherished by the artist throughout his/her life. The amalgamation of all the aspects is "Sampurna Samarpan" to Nritya. Alaknanda is a Kathak dancer and choreographer. She founded Alaknanda Institute for Performing Arts in 1990. It is affiliated to Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal, Mumbai. kathakindia.org |
