The Indian dance schools in southern India and various other countries have bowed to the modern world. It's now taking foreigners, women, and young people to learn the secrets of ancient Indian art. They begin to perform a series of eye movements and hand gestures, twisting their faces and arms into an emotional sign language, evoking powerful feelings of love, hate, harmony, and anger.
They are learning Bharatnatyam and Kathakali, a stylized storytelling art that fuses dance, drama, and music. As brightly garbed and painted characters, they re-enact Hindu epics and heroic legends. You can also enroll yourself in the best online Bharatanatyam classes and learn these beautiful forms of Indian traditional dance.
The roots of Kathakali stretch back 2,000 years to a Sanskrit treatise, Natyasastra, a bible of the arts. After breakfast, there are dancing lessons, followed by several hours of rigorous exercises. The Indian dance schools comprise a cluster of open-air pavilions.
Bharatanatyam not only has a highly developed gesture language, but also the most sophisticated use of eyes and facial expressions. With so many aspects to think about simultaneously, one needs to be completely focused and immersed. Such immersion in practice makes you forget the mundane worries. A superb prescription for mental wellbeing