Classical dance and yoga

Originally Posted by lahy15

Dear Sudha and Swetha M'am,

Nice to meet Dance Teachers here ... How nice to see Dance Teachers in foreign countries which makes our New Generation to learn our Classical Dance ... I loved to learn BharathaNatiyam but I am very unlucky and my dream now is to teach my Daughter ... But, we do not have any teachers nearby ...

May God Bless you to teach many children in and around your places ... Thanks for your informations you are provding here M'ams... Regards, Suni ...

Dear Suni Ma'am

First of all, you can address me as Swetha ... I'm just 19! And, I'm not a dance teacher ... I'm still learning ... maybe some day I'll become a teacher (not as a profession ... just for the love that I have for dance ...). I do teach a few kids for competitions but thats just Bollywood dance and Indian folk dances.

Dont you have any dance teachers around your place??? Thats sad ... why dont you check with ILites in your area? They may be able to help you out ...

Even my mother couldnt learn dance when she was young ... just like you ... and she says that she is 'living her dream' when she sees me dancing ...

And, I've just posted my experiences in the thread. Nothing very exceptional ...

Originally Posted by kanaka

Just now I heard something which was very enlightening to me atleast.
A very famous Mohini Attam exponent from kerala in Malayalam Doordarshan says just as one can liberate oneself by yoga so also by classical dance.

Just as the Kundalini is awakened by yoga so also there are ways by which the same kundalini can be activated by classical dance. ie. The sleeping serpent lying dormant can be awakened.

This makes me think perhaps this is the reason why Lord Siva also a great yogi shown in dance posture. Could the cosmic posture be symbolic representing the unity of body and mind through dance.
Another thing which she said was,about the nerves going from the spinal cord to brain . While doing the breathing exercises the prana is channelised through one channel and the same prana is channelised down through another set of nerves. Prana flowing through Idi and pingala is represented as sun and moon.

We also see moon in the head of Shiva. I don't know whether it symbolises that by taking the prana through one channel and bringing through prana back to kundalini , the kundalini can be activated and thus one can liberate our soul.The sahasradhara point which is considerd the seat of shiv shakti can be attained through dance or music.
Can anyone enlighten me on this point?. kanaka

hello kanaka

much as i would like to say i understand these things a little...i do not know about it deeply....but yes there are people who apply dance and yoga to bring alive nerves...for example a unit called RASA in thiruvanmiyur chennai is carrying out an experiment with dance steps to try and bring mentally challenged children and adults understand and awaken....

sathya

Sathya I always admired your name-SATHYA. Your Fb is seen after pretty long time. Keep in touch. kanaka

Dear Shweta,

Sorry... I thought you are a Dance Teacher and you should nearly or more than my Age... ... Nice to hear that you teach kids for competitions ...

We have dance teachers only in Germany and it is too faraway for us to make our daughter join ... Happy that you fulfill your mother's dream which I couldn't ...

Good luck for your future learning dear and please share your views and thoughts about dance here ... Regards, Suni ...

Originally Posted by swethakrishnan

Dear Suni Ma'am

First of all, you can address me as Swetha ... I'm just 19! And, I'm not a dance teacher ... I'm still learning ... maybe some day I'll become a teacher (not as a profession ... just for the love that I have for dance ...). I do teach a few kids for competitions but thats just Bollywood dance and Indian folk dances.

Dont you have any dance teachers around your place??? Thats sad ... why dont you check with ILites in your area? They may be able to help you out ...

Even my mother couldnt learn dance when she was young ... just like you ... and she says that she is 'living her dream' when she sees me dancing ...

And, I've just posted my experiences in the thread. Nothing very exceptional ...

Dear Suni,
Thanks for the words of praise.....yes it has been enlightening to teach and share my knowledge with people here, which is very satisfying and i too have learnt a lot due to that! Thats sad that there is no one there!

Dear Kanaka,
I am sorry i dont know about the reality shows....which one is this and in which channel?
anyway the lesser said about these so called new age classical dances is better! everyone is just finding a way to get popular and in their own ways fulfil some dream of theirs! So nothing to comment on !

But someones has written a seperate thread on all aspects of Bharatnatyam here on IL....so will not venture into those details here!
But will definitely share my thoughts on the symbols, philosophy etc....will have to compile them first , from my head to the document.....just need some time!

Hi Friends ,
It has been sometime now since i promised i will share what i know about the figure of Nataraja. Many of you have seen the bronze statues i guess. This figure holds deep philosophy and visual expression.
The serene face of Nataraja shows that he is an ascetic,but his body is in wild abandon, frozen in a dancing moment, showing the constant ever changing energy and motion in this world. Here i want to quote Fritzof Capra in The Tao of Physics ......He beautifully relates Nataraj's dance with modern physics. He says that "every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction…without end…For the modern physicists, then Shiva's dance is the dance of subatomic matter. As in Hindu mythology, it is a continual dance of creation and destruction involving the whole cosmos; the basis of all existence and of all natural phenomena." This beautiful poem by Ruth Peel says it all......

"The source of all movement,
Shiva's dance,
Gives rhythm to the universe.
He dances in evil places,
In sacred,
He creates and preserves,
Destroys and releases.
We are part of this dance

The symbolic meaning behind this artistic creation is as below......


"In one hand he holds a drum-symbol of the sound of Om and of the vibration which is the origin of creation. In another he holds a flame to destroy the cosmos and permit creation of the next. A hand points to a foot dancing on a dwarf, symbolic of the evil and ego in Man which binds men to the wheel of existence . The raised foot offers release, through awareness and self surrender , from the endless cycle of rebirth.




Also the five elements of Nature, Panchabhotham are a part of this figure! The Drum produces Sound which is the essence of Space!. The world is supposed to have been created with the Sound only. He holds Fire in the other hand, symbol of destruction . Ganga on his Head is symbolic for Water Element, Air or Prana is symbolised in the steady breath that pervades Life, the action in Inaction, for which air is necessary! And the Earth again represents the solidity or HIS BODY or the whole universe, and of course the Place where he resides and dances....that is one's Heart !
So in totality this dancing figure upholds the entire secret of this Life and the Universe! So profoundly has this figure been envisioned and created that there is nothing which equals this and keeps us united in mind , body and soul. Of course he is the MASTER YOGI too! the dancing natraja in Stilness!
Well i can go on and on.....so great is our Indian philosophy!

I hope you will all share some more thoughts on this......

Dear Sudha,

Iam sure you will be much younger compared to me. So can I take the liberty of addressing you by your first name?
Iam happy very very very happy that you have started the discussion as promised. Sudha pl. continue doing this intellectual exercise. It will benefit many. Iam thrilled.
What makes me happy watching reality shows is the talents which would have remained in the dark. I tell you I liked Malayalam shows than any show. Much matured respectable. Tamil shows are just doing some koothu. Iam pained to see that- a protaganist of Tamizh!
Do continue. kanaka

Thanks Kanaka for the FB. You can address me by my first name, no problem....i am 40 plus, not so young as you are saying....ha haa-....but who bothers about age!
I do agree that these dance shows which i also see on Sun tv, are a bit degrading....the movements and the content and the songs they dance too are also of not an aesthetic level. But what to do, we have to put up with what is supposedly more glamorous and easily acceptable to layman and bear with it. that too here everything is Bollywood and someone suggested that i call my dance also so, then i will get more people. I make it very clear that my dance is not for pure entertainment it is learnt and done with a more spiritual value! We just carry on and in the long run people understand. Anyway that has never bothered me.....whatever i have been doing is purely for my own satisfaction and contentment!
Glad that you enjoyed the writeup......we have so many inner symbolisms in our hindu gods that it is fascinating whenever we discover it!

Dear Sudha,

Hope you wil not be angry? I have made a small appeal to our friends to read your good postings under the forum'snippets' few minutes ago. kanaka