banis of bharathanatyam

Question 1

what are the five main banis of bharathanatyam?

Answer 1

• vazhavur bani
• pandanallur bani
• thanjaavur bani
• kalakshetra bani
• melattur bani

Question 2

Why are there different bharathanatyam banis?

Answer 2

Bharathantyam evolved into these different banis as it was taught by teacher of different areas with different styles and techniques.

Question 3

Talk about Thanjavur bani

Answer 3

• form the district of thanjavur in tamil nadu
• four brothers known as the thanjavur quartet developed this style
• a dominant feauture of this bani is sringara whcih is the expression of love
• there are complex rhythms and emphasised emotions
• adavus were first formulated by the thanjavur brothers
• banis like pandanallur and kalakshetra were later eveolved from the thanjaavur bani
• in this bani, they gave more importance to the music than the rhythm

Question 4

Talk about the pandanallur bani

Answer 4

• this bani evolved from the thanjaavur bani which was formed by the thanjaavur brothers
• pandanallur village in thanjaavur district
• guru meenakshi sundaram was the founder of this bani
• a special feature of this bani is the kulukku nadai
• the accuracy of body posture is given a lot of importance
• it is difficult to perform because the three levls are hard, deeping sitting or moving or jumping with great speed

Question 5

Talk about the vazhuvoor bani

Answer 5

• this also originated from thanjaavur bani
• usually, bhrathanatyam performances usually begin with nritta so like pushpanjali but for this bani, perfomances begin with nritua
• this bani includes realistic abinaya

Question 6

Talk about the Kalakshetra bani

Answer 6

• this is the most popular bani
• it was founded by the legendary dancer rukmini devi arundale
• this bani is derived from all the other bani because earlier teachers that used to teach in other banis taught in kalakshetra
• this bani introduced the theoretical syllabus of bharathanatyam
• rukmini devi arundale was the first person to coreograph group performances and taught both men and women
• minimum lasya and shringara movements
• movements are sharp and linear

Question 7

Talk about melattur bani

Answer 7

• created by guru mangudi in melattur village
• this bani has sharp adavus and has eleaborate abinaya
• mostly incolves bhakti and shringara rasa
• a distinct feature is the use of panchai nadais
• feet are not stamped hard on the flor but instead the dancer uses her anklets to create emusic