What Is Bharatanatyam? A Beginner's Guide for the Curious

Category: About the Art Form | Reading time: ~5 minutes

If you've ever watched a Bharatanatyam performance and felt something — even if you couldn't name it — you already understand more about this art form than you might think.

Bharatanatyam is one of the oldest surviving classical dance forms in the world. It originates from what is now known as Tamil Nadu, South India, and carries with it more than two thousand years of continuous tradition. Not two hundred. Two thousand.

That number alone tends to stop people in their tracks, and rightly so. We live in a world where things are considered "classic" after a decade. Bharatanatyam predates most modern languages. It predates the printing press, the compass, and just about every institution we consider ancient. And yet here it is — still alive, still taught, still performed, still evolving. Here in Sydney's Hills District, no less.

So what actually is it?

It is, first and foremost, a language.

Bharatanatyam is built on a codified system of movement where every gesture of the hand — we call them mudras — carries specific meaning. Every position of the eyes, the head, the neck. Every stamp of the foot, every bend of the knee. Nothing is arbitrary. When a trained dancer performs, they are not simply moving beautifully. They are telling a story, invoking a deity, describing a landscape, expressing an emotion — all through the precision of their body.

There are a number of single-hand gestures (asamyuta hasta mudras) and double-hand gestures (samyuta hasta mudras). Each has a name, a meaning — sometimes many meanings — and a specific context in which it's used. The same hand position that represents a lotus flower can also represent the sun, the moon, or Vishnu, depending on how it's used in the choreography. This is not a simple vocabulary. It is a poetry.

It has key pillars.

Nritta is pure movement — the technical, rhythmic footwork and body positions performed for their own beauty, without narrative. Nritya is expressive dance — the abhinaya, the storytelling, the emotion. Natya is drama — the theatrical, narrative form that draws on classical Sanskrit texts like the Natyashastra.

In a full Bharatanatyam performance, you'll see all three woven together. A piece might open with complex rhythmic footwork that has no story — just sound and geometry. Then shift into a slow, intimate piece where the dancer uses only their face and hands to portray a devotee's longing for the divine. Then shift again into a lively piece that dramatises a myth from the Puranas.

It is never one thing.

It has a spiritual root.

Bharatanatyam evolved from temple traditions. Dance was worship. The body in motion was a form of prayer.

This spiritual foundation is not something that disappeared when Bharatanatyam moved from the temple to the stage in the twentieth century. It is still felt. There is a stillness at the beginning of every class — an invocation, a bow — that acknowledges what we are stepping into. Not a fitness class. Not a performance skill. Something older and deeper than that.

What does it look like?

The visual signature of Bharatanatyam is unmistakable once you know it. The wide-legged half-squat position — aramandi — that the dancer maintains for extended periods. The angular, geometric quality of the arms and legs, so different from the flowing lines of Western ballet. The nattuvangam — the rhythmic syllables chanted by the teacher or conductor. The mridangam and veena and voice that make up the live Carnatic music accompanying the performance.

And the costume. The deep pleated fan that opens like a flower when the dancer's legs spread in aramandi. The temple jewellery — layered necklaces, earrings, headpiece, armlets. The alta — red dye on the palms and the soles of the feet that makes the hands and feet more visible to the audience. The jasmine in the hair.

It is one of the most visually complete art forms in the world. Every element — the movement, the music, the costume, the setting — is in conversation with every other.

Where does Nrityasagara fit?

We teach in the Kalakshetra style — the tradition brought back to life by Rukmini Devi Arundale, rooted in the temple traditions of Tamil Nadu, and known for its integrity, its rigour, and its restraint.

What that means in practice is that we don't teach shortcuts. We don't rush students to perform before their foundation is ready. We build slowly, carefully, with the long view — because Bharatanatyam is not something you learn in a term. It is something you grow into over years. And the students who do grow into it find that it has given them something they carry everywhere.

If you've been curious — about the art form, about whether it might be right for your child, about what it actually involves — I hope this gives you somewhere to start.

The door is open.

— Amesha Darshana, Founder, Nrityasagara School of Dance