Indian Dance Technique

For me personally the facial mudras do not show strong elements of Bartenieff fundamental connections; however we have to practice these as they are an essential part of Indian dance technique. Whilst the dancers are sat performing the facial mudra’s they still have to concentrate on their posture. The posture is the same as when dancing and this posture is also known as the pelvis tilt.

The English translation of the name for this posture is ‘the application of breath to the spine’. This could still be seen as a head tail connection through the spine however the spine is in a ‘C’ shape position not a long reaching spine which we usually use in the release technique. This feels out of position and I don’t feel as tall in comparison to when I have a straight lengthening spine. In order for me to still feel this connection within the pelvis tilt I think consciously about unzipping my core but still reaching up out of my head. I then found that I could still have a lengthening spine and an opening chest whilst arching my lower back. Through finding this I felt the connections through my upper body growing into space.

Previous somatic awareness can still be applied to Indian dance technique within the performance of the Nattavadue. The use of breath is important whilst performing this sequence because it is a long piece therefore incorrect breathing will lead to fatigue resulting in less aesthetic movement material. Breathing into movement helped me to find extensions within the space, remembering the importance of breathe also helped me to retain the correct posture throughout my practice. Breathing helped me focus on muscle memory within Indian dance, muscle memory is essential because there’s so much to remember and the movement to remember is unnatural for our bodies.

The core-distal connection focuses on the connection of the inner core muscles with the hands, feet, head and tail. I believe that the Nattavadue shows this connection strongly because the position the body is in for the most of the technique is …

When the body is in this position I can feel a very strong core-distal connection because my hands and feet are reaching away in opposition to one another and my head and tail are also doing the same even though there is a curve in the spine. As all of my limbs are reaching away I can feel the reach coming from my core because the reach fills the space more by using the core securing this strong core distal connection.