JOIN USAnanya, located in Malleswaram, recently oversaw the gathering of classical Indian dancers of all ages, eagerly awaiting the arrival of bharatnatayam dancer and guru Bragha Bressel.
The venue was playing host to the morning session of the Ananya bharatanatyam workshops conducted by her. “My dance teacher told me about this workshop and I’ve heard a lot about her (Bragha Bressel). So I’m expecting to learn a lot, especially about abhinaya,” chirped Monisha, a BBM final-year student of Mount Carmel College. Preethi, mother of Harshita, a seventh-grade student in NPS, Indiranagar, said, “Harshita’s been enjoying bharatanatyam since she began classes and this is her first workshop. So I’m as excited as she is.”
“Bragha is the queen of abhinaya and anyone, whether new to this form of art or not, would be honoured to train under her,” said Vijayshree Ashok, a bharatnatayam dancer of 28 years. Bragha explained, “The main focus in juniors is to have smaller numbers and greater focus on introduction to abhinaya. I choose items like keerthanam and taught concepts such as the portrayal of different characters in the same number or situations to elaborate upon as well as to talk through the hands and eyes, and how to use lyrics.”
The tactics changed subtly with the senior batch. “In the senior batch, we worked on nuances and performance difficulties. We experimented with pieces and dealt with corrections in depth and took up more sensitive and senior items such as pathos and shringaram,” she added.
The junior batch’s session began with a light-hearted introduction to the piece they would be starting off with, a composition by P Pattabhi Ramayaa (Telugu), and the dictation and analysis of its first charanam. The young girls were asked by their guru to not be afraid of making mistakes, for then their emotions would merely coat their fear. This was followed by an interactive and lively session of dance, where the students were taught a Ganesha prayer as well as a javali. The senior batch was conducted in a similar manner. They were taught to love the character they were portraying so as to entrance the audience as they gracefully swayed to a Telugu padam.