An
artist of exceptional talent and grace, Pushpita Saha brings the
classical Bharatanatyam dance of South India to growing audiences
in India and the United States.
A
student of Bhartanatyam since the age of six, Pushpita last studied
with her illustrious Guru, Geeta Chandran, who is regarded as a
star-performer amongst India's new generation of dancers. She also
studied Carnatic music under the tutelage of Smt. Radha Krishna.
Pushpita's
stellar performances have been acclaimed at many dance festivals
and she was adjudged the Best Solo Dancer 2000 in a competition
in New Delhi. She was also selected for a CCERT scholarship for
music. In theatre and film Pushpita was featured in NCERT television
serials "Dishayyen," "Purana Kile Ki Atma Katha"
and "Juddu ke Phool." She worked under Barry John's direction
in the ten-part tele-play entitled "No Kidding."
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Those thoughts of mine that are never captured by words perch
upon my songs and dance.
Rabindranath Tagore
©
dwij 2002
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Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam
is a deeply codified dance form. With its ubiquitous
flexed knee stance (arai mandi) the dance is a construction of
abstract geometric and symmetric dance patterns (advavus) presented
to complicated rhythm patterns (tala). This is then interspersed
with the narrative (natya)
and the expressional (abhinaya). An amazing directory of gestures
(hasta mudras) enable the artist to communicate images, emotions
and ideas to the audience. Artistry is achieved when a dancer,
after mastering and perfecting technique, transcends it, and through
improvisation and personal imagination (manodharma) dances with
her spirit.
The
music accompanying the dance is Carnatic vocal accompanied by
cymbals, mridangam, violin and flute.
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