From Gesture to Universe: The Imaginative Power of Bharatanatyam | Indu Santosh | TEDxMVJCE

Key Concepts

• Bharatanatyam: A classical Indian dance form characterized by strict rules, precision, imagination, creativity, and storytelling.
• Abhinaya: The art of expression in Indian classical dance, involving facial expressions, gestures, and body movements to convey emotions and narratives.
• Mudras (Hastās): Hand gestures used in Bharatanatyam, each with specific meanings and applications.
• Rasa: The aesthetic experience or relish felt by the audience, achieved by blending emotion (bhava), expression (abhinaya), rhythm, and music.
• Neuroplasticity: The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life, which can be enhanced through activities like dance.
• Divergent Thinking: The ability to generate multiple solutions or ideas for a problem, often associated with creativity and improvisation.
• Improvisation: Creating movements, patterns, or stories spontaneously in the moment, going beyond memorized routines.
• Viniyogas: Prescribed uses or applications of specific mudras, often found in ancient texts.

Bharatanatyam: A Language of Infinite Possibilities

Isus Santo, a banana artist, educator, and founder of the Bhana Foundation, presents Bharatanatyam not merely as a classical art form bound by strict rules, but as a dynamic and expansive language of creativity and storytelling. He emphasizes that Bharatanatyam is "imagination made visible" and a "limitless canvas of creativity."

The Building Blocks of Bharatanatyam

• Alphabets of Movement: The fundamental units of movement in Bharatanatyam are referred to as "aduvus."
• Hand Gestures (Hastās/Mudras): A crucial set of "alphabets" are the hastas or hand gestures. Each gesture carries a specific meaning and has prescribed uses and applications.
• Storytelling through Gestures: By stringing together these alphabets and gestures, dancers create meaningful words, sentences, stories, characters, and worlds, bringing imagination and emotions to life. Santo likens this process to coding a program, where inputs (codes) generate desired outputs. Dancers use their bodies as instruments and the art form as the language to "negotiate time and space on the stage."

The Power of Layered Expression (Abhinaya)

Santo illustrates the power of layered expression through an example: a single hand gesture can convey different meanings depending on the accompanying emotion and intention. He demonstrates how a gesture, when combined with a blank face, is meaningless. However, when layered with an emotion, it can signify a "fragrant flower" or, with a different emotional overlay, a "rotted flower." This highlights how the dancer's eyes, hands, limbs, and layered body language and movements allow a "whole world to unfold."

• Rasa: The Aesthetic Experience: The technical term for the audience's aesthetic experience is "rasa." It is created by blending the right ingredients:
  • Bhava: Emotion or the expression of inner feelings.
  • Abhinaya: Expression of inner feelings through body movements and body language.
  • These are combined with rhythm and music in a way that is "tasty" and "aromatic," akin to preparing a dish.

Reimagining Classical Narratives

Santo demonstrates the adaptability of Bharatanatyam by reimagining a 17th-century composition on the theme of gossip. He transforms this classical narrative into a contemporary college campus scenario, showcasing how the art form can be relevant to modern contexts. This exercise highlights the "limitless" creative possibility of the art form, where audiences can find themselves within the stories, whether they are from the past or pure imagination.

Bharatanatyam and Science: Enhancing Cognitive Function

Santo asserts that Bharatanatyam is "backed by science," citing research on the connection between dance and neuroplasticity.

• Cognitive Benefits: Studies suggest that individuals who train in dance forms like Bharatanatyam experience significant development in their cognitive functions and memory power.
• Divergent Thinking: A study in Singapore with children learning through creative dancing showed them making creative transitions and inventing/reinventing patterns and stories. This is identified as "divergent thinking."
• Improvisation and Problem Solving: Research on improvisation in dance, which involves creating movements spontaneously beyond memorized steps, has proven to improve creative fluency, originality, and facilitate creative problem-solving. Santo posits that this is a crucial skill needed in today's world for "thinking out of the box."

Addressing Challenges in Art Education: The Mushi Mudra Story

As an art educator teaching students from 6 to 60, Santo finds younger children the most challenging due to their short attention spans. He recounts a student's complaint that learning "viniyogas" (prescribed uses of mudras) was "boring" and the list was "endless."

• The Problem with Disconnected Viniyogas: Santo explains that traditional viniyogas are often presented as individual, disconnected uses of specific mudras, lacking inherent narrative flow.
• Connecting the Dots: Recognizing Bharatanatyam as a "limitless canvas in storytelling and movement," Santo devised a method to connect these seemingly disconnected uses into engaging stories for children. This approach taps into memory, imagination, and creativity.

Case Study: The Mushi Mudra Story

Santo demonstrates this methodology with the mudra "Mushi," which means "fist." The prescribed viniyogas include:

• Focused and steadfast.
• Holding one's head.
• Courageous.
• Holding or taking things in one's hand.
• Fighting or wrestling.

He then weaves these into a story about "Mina Mushi," a superhero whose superpower is hidden in her long braid. She uses her power to fight evil and help people with courage. The story evolves to address a universal problem: hair loss. After trying various remedies, Mina Mushi realizes she needs a break and travels to Rishikesh. There, she meets other superwomen who gather annually to recharge their superpowers. Together, they form an "unbreakable bond called Bushi," learning that their superpowers are inherent and cannot be taken away. This story creatively integrates all the prescribed viniyogas of the Mushi mudra.

Conclusion: Bharatanatyam as a Living Tradition

Santo concludes by addressing engineers and problem solvers, emphasizing that Bharatanatyam is not a relic of the past but a "breathing, living tradition and language." It serves as a "training ground for imagination" and teaches individuals to "think, to feel, to create, to problem solve, to be human in the most expansive sense." He reiterates the core message: "One gesture but a whole universe."