Learn At The Roll Of A Dice

Traditional Bharatanatyam beginners' class moves with the unhurried pace of ritual.

- NIDHARSHANA RAJU

Students stand in aramandi — knees bent, feet turned out — holding the posture until their legs ache, while the teacher, seated with a thattu kazhi, taps an unchanging rhythm into a wooden block. One adavu is introduced at a time, each repeated endlessly with only occasional corrections to elbows, knees, or posture. The class is a loop of teaching and watching, until the movement settles into muscle memory. Eventually, the students are allowed to sit, only to begin memorising mudras: the teacher demonstrates each gesture, announces its Sanskrit name, and makes the class repeat it over and over — patakam, tripatakam, ardhapatakam, kartarimukham. By the end, little has been "learnt" in the modern sense, but every detail has been measured, repeated, and absorbed in slow, deliberate increments. The rhythm follows them long after they leave.