The dance now known as bharatanatyam can be seen through the light of a number of parallel histories. Fragments of these histories can be found in documents, letters, treatises, books, and dramatic and poetic texts. But they also exist in less substantive archives like music, aural narratives, informal reminiscences and, most importantly, in the body. Changing movement patterns, the shifting intentions behind the dance’s gestural language, and evolving sequences of mores and ideas of the self can all be felt or seen in the body of the dancer. This course will look at bharatanatyam through a combination of all of these approaches. Depending on the composition of the class, there may also be a practical component involved in some of the project-oriented work.
