November 2

Today in class, we learned about the Indian classical dance form Bharata Natyam, which is a dance through in which strictly facial expressions and hand movements are used to tell the story. There are 9 key moods in Bharata Natyam which are told through facial expressions and hand gestures: Shringara (happiness and love), Veera (valour), Adbhuta (wonder and curiousity), Hasya (joy or mirth), Bhaya (fear), Bhibatsya (disgust), Rowdra (anger), and Shanta (peace). We were divided into two groups in class and were asked to create a story through the use of 5 of these emotions and their corresponding expressions. I was put with Jonathan, Rema, Yara, and Rayan, and we all ended up creating one mood each through our expressions. I chose Shringara, so I looked at Rayan with great love and admiration. It was challenging to express this emotion without being able to say anything, but with after practicing a few times and acting out how I would look at someone I love I figured out how to portray this emotion. In the end, our group ended up doing a great job telling our story of 5 different people sitting in a meditation class. We also saw the other group’s performance, and it was more difficult to distinguish between the different expressions in their performance, but they did a good job with their story. Overall, it was fun learning this new dance type and figuring out ways to express emotions without talking, and I look forward to learning more about Bharata Natyam in the theater festival in December!