Devotion, study, practice | Notes from Indian aesthetics and dance

I am new to this, but came across a wonderful write-up by Gina Lalli. 

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Following, a few quotes from writings by Gina Lalli. She studied Indian dance (Bahrat Natyam and Kathak) for over a decade with Indian masters. This one are excerpts from this essay.

Although she talks about dance, one can be inspired pursuing any new discipline - both practice and the grounding & strong anchoring of that practice:

Learning a classical dance form in its country of origin requires many kinds of study apart from countless hours spent in dance classes and solitary practice sessions. Music, language, spiritual discipline (if required), and texts about the dance form (if they exist) are equally important if the goal is to understand the danced movements and their spiritual and cultural significance.

About a dance performance she was an audience to:

It was art so powerfully crafted that there was no other reality except that which she created.

Such is the ancient art of abhinaya, the art of interpreting a song with stylized hand gestures and facial expressions, while at the same time transforming into the character who embodies, of all human emotions, a single mood (rasa), in this case, the longing for the absent lover. Every gesture, every step adds to the intensity of the longing of this character. A mood of longing is meant to fill the air, gripping the minds and hearts of the spectators. The dancer has become longing personified; the audience becomes one with her devo­tion and longing. This is the ultimate goal of Indian dance theater—the sharing, between audiences and performers of a profound aesthetic state called rasa. The physical technique of steps, poses, rhythms, and such is actually secondary. An Indian dancer may have perfect physical technique, but if there is an absence of aesthetic content, the performance is, at best, considered mediocre.

Some of these forms are living memories and traditions, and yet that is perhaps just the ground. The student is free and encouraged to improvise. Perhaps that goes for all strong foundations, or long-standing traditions, a freedom, the ethos of adaptability yet a grounding in fundamentals.

After learning the vocabulary of hand gestures (mudras) and stylized expressions of the emotions (bhavas)—which have remained unchanged for two thousand years—the student is encouraged to improvise many ways of interpreting a theme.

As to the objective, it is improvisation as long as the dancer wishes to stay with the theme,

There is no ending to the story. The padam is designed to convey a powerful mood and we are left with the taste—the rasa—of that mood.

In India, an additional element that contributes to audience empathy with the dancer is the fact that they, too, worship all the deities addressed in the dance—and they, too, long for a moment of grace, actually to see or feel the presence of the divinity. 

Some of the greatest dancers are immersed through and through in their art, like any other great artist, athlete, sportsman or any great exponent of their particular art. Just a reminder of the devotion.

It is not surprising that dancers who are considered the greatest exponents of both Bharata Natyam and Kathak are the living embodiments of their art since they have been taught from childhood. Almost before they can walk, they learn dance steps and the music that accompanies the dance, the compositions of great composers, and the complex rhythms and time measures of the drums. Furthermore, the family is steeped in the religious concepts that are the subjects of the dance.

Further, about Indian aesthetics and devotion of one learning a new, alien form of dance, a few notes:

The musical modes, the ragas, use the intervals of nature, not the altered intonations of Western scales.

if the audience does not see the soul of the dance, which is permeated with devotion to the gods (which the dancer should project at all times), then they are seeing mere calisthenics

For example, the face, when not depicting the emotions of a story, has a heightened expression of ‘joyful anticipation’ an expression that is relatively impersonal and is not a vehicle for the expression of mere personality.

Along with the dance study, it was proper to study the ragas (musical modes) through singing or playing an instrument and also the time measures that accompany the dance.

Equally important is the study of the Sanskrit language. This is imperative for the dancer since all dance terminology and aesthetic theory are in the ancient books, which are all in Sanskrit. Also, some of the gesture-songs are in Sanskrit and are, in fact, verses from ancient writings about Krishna, Rama, and other divinities. Many Sanskrit terms are too subtle to be translated in one or two words—in fact, entire books have been written by Indian aestheticians over the centuries about the meaning of one word, rasa, that rare aesthetic experience that is the goal of all Indian art. A study of the Sanskrit language is thus necessary to develop an intelligent, intuitive faculty of what these words mean. 

The two main reference books for dancers in India are treatises on acting techniques (how to project a particular emotion or mood) and the vocabulary of hand gestures. The more ancient of these is the Natya Shastra [Rules of Dance-Drama] of Bharata Muni, believed to have been written between 400 and 200 BCE. It is a complete compendium of rules relating to theater, both spoken and danced. The second book is Nandikeshvara’s Abhinaya Darpanam [Mirror of Gesture] (date unknown). These books continue to be vital references for dancers, for both knowledge and inspiration. The Natya Shastra’s rules are painstakingly detailed, which suggests that theater had been practiced long before it was written. 

Although there are many texts written from the ninth to the twelfth century outlining the purpose of a work of Indian art and how to achieve it, the goal is the same for all Indian art, whether dance, drama, poetry, painting, or music. The purpose of a work of art is to sustain a principal mood throughout and instill a feeling of aesthetic delight. Both the Natya Shastra and Abhinaya Darpanam expound on these principles, which are still practiced in all traditional Indian arts.

The aesthetic principles of rasa and bhava are described in these works, as well as how the actor/dancer may embody them. Bhava is considered to be the emotion generated by the actor/dancer, and rasa is the aesthetic delight of the audience (and artist) tasting the emotion. Rasa (literally, “taste”) has two meanings: one is the overall emotion or mood of a play or a scene. It is considered that any work of Indian art must feature only one dominant emotion, such as erotic love, anger, sadness, heroism, humor, disgust, fear, or wonder. Rasa also refers to the rapport between performer and audience, a mood of aesthetic enjoyment.

In light of modern times, and the decontextualisation of some dance forms, when dances are supposed to be a meditative unfolding and an immersion into rasa, it gets difficult if they compete with sensationalism, acrobatics and high-tempo entertainment progression. In such instances, important to have guardians or masters who bring one back to the basics, the high ideals of the form.

The Lucknow style is recognized by all as the epitome of grace, of lyrical movements of the arms and torso while also sustaining fast footwork and complex rhythms.

Birju Maharaj (now in his seventies) is the undisputed virtuoso and master of the Lucknow style of Kathak.

Birju emphasizes grace and fluidity of the dancer’s torso, making sure the arms, torso, and turn of the head complete each figure—in other words, he teaches and demands emphasis on the entire form of each movement, not just the footwork. Aesthetic visions like his are the greatest assurance of a clear line of Kathak’s continuity. 

The essay has a lot more detailed history of Indian classical dance in its current form. A beautifully written set of articles which opens the door to Indian aesthetics and dance beautifully.

For the dancer, the art is a way of truthful living, a yoga of selfless action. The body must be bought to as close an ideal of symmetry as possible, the parts of it made alive and aware of their separate responsibility and their particular beauty that blends into a form which is totally aware and beautiful. The mind must be in disinterested control of the parts and make itself clear as a mirror for the ideal image of the dance to realize itself there. This image, a gift from above, then can find a channel and instrument to manifest itself, to overflow into the world of the senses. Each part of the body has its own dance and all are parts of the one dance. There can be no beauty without unity nor can there be beauty without variety. Indian dance and the soul are inseparable.

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Here's another of her articles.

And then here's one on Lucknow Kathak.