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After the gateswaram, the shabdam is a song, whose words describe the glory of the God The dancer, in Bharata Nātyam, is the devotee and praises God through her expression and movement Expression or abhinayam is an important feature of Bharata Nätyam for the dancer imparts to her audience the theme and mood of her song Not only should she be wellversed in the actual meaning of the words, but should comprehend the deep emotion and experience of its shastric (classical) and traditional content and background
"Whither the hand goes, let the glance follow, Whither the glances lead, there should the mind follow Whither the mind goes, there the mood follows
Whither the mood goes, there is real sentiment born," says the Abhinaya Darpana
In the next item, the varnam, the intricate technique of Bharata Natyam, is vividly portrayed Whereas in other techniques, there are many actors and dancers, in Bharata Nātyam, a solo dancer has to interpret by herself an entire story with no other aid but the movements of her body, the everchanging expressiveness of her face and the gestures of her hands She has to portray to her audience both the lyrical and dramatic quality of the emotional content of the story she tells The varnam is literally the colour of Bharata Natyam
The term bhāva actually means 'becoming', for the dancer merges into the image of the character she has to play, for only then can she express the real meaning of the song she sings She has to completely cast aside her superficial identity with her surroundings and surrender herself wholly to the song, whose interpretation cries out the longing of the soul for union with God In the varnam, apart from 'sollukattus', the jatrs are also created for the svaras (musical passages) of the sahityam (text of song) It is the greatest of all dance compositions, the superb culmination of the subtlety of this elevating art
After the varnam, the tempo slows down, but the dancer has to evoke all her imagination and creativity in interpreting the various songs or padams Here the inner emotions of the mind with its human approach to the Divine is presented with significant and creative movement Every dancer searches for and interprets her own perception of situations and the audience is the ‘rasika' (connoisseur), who experiences the intensity of her individual concept The fortunate few can taste the rasa of the dance which is akin to yogic experience
The 'tillana', which is a gay rhythmic dance, brings out the full beauty of an abstract dance creation Many of the poses are those of the sculptures on temple walls and the rhythmic structure is intricate All the dance 'Korvais' are shown and the endings become faster and faster in brilliant combinations
The promise of the Alarippu is fulfilled in the 'tillana'
The recital ends with a slokam, in praise of the deity A Bharata Nātyam cital leads the dancer and the audience into a realm of deep mysticism, when the devotee searches for the highest truth, in the dynamic movement that is dance
