Bharatanatyam Dancing Music Tips

Video Transcript

"In this clip, I'm going to explain a little bit about the music that accompanies the dance in Carnatic music, which is the South Indian music that comes from this part of India. Rhythm is a very important part of the musical structure. And the dance is considered to be a visualization of the music and so the dancer's actually considered a musician because she wears bells on her ankles. And all of the compositions are done in a rhythmic cycle called the talam and in the short piece that we're going to demonstrate it's in a four beat cycle which should be counted one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. For as the dance is being performed, this cycling four beats is going to be continuing throughout and the dancer has to make sure she's completely and totally in time with the drummer and the natyvanara or the dance master."