How Bharata Natyam became India's quintessential dance

In this concise book, Bharata Natyam dancer, choreographer, instructor, writer and actor Padma Shri Leela Samson explores the ancient classical dance form of Bharata Natyam, tracing its origins, history, and evolution over the centuries.

- NEHA KIRPAL

Samson delves into various aspects of the form, including its schools and styles, techniques and symbolism, as well as costume and attire. The final chapter examines Bharata Natyam in the present day — the 21st century and beyond.

With decades of experience, Samson received her training in Bharata Natyam at the Kalakshetra Foundation in Chennai, and became its director in 2005. In the book's Prologue, she writes that Arangetram (or Rangapravesam) — the debut solo performance of a Bharata Natyam dancer — was not a word with which she was familiar as a child. Later, while studying at Kalakshetra too, Rukmini Devi, who founded the academy, did not wish students to learn the dance with the intention of doing their Arangetram. However, Samson did finally have her two-and-a-half-hour debut solo performance in Bombay in 1970, a day after her 19th birthday.

Samson goes on to explain that the history of Bharata Natyam in the last 300 years is mired in controversy and confusion. The early-day performer of the dance form was referred to as a devadasi, or a handmaiden of god.