Creative Methods of Teaching and Performances :
Our director, Anwesha Dutta is grateful to her dance Gurus for not only their unique style of teaching and dance techniques, but also for instilling strong values of women’s leadership, personal branding, and self-confidence in her. Hence you will see us be creative with our beginners e.g. do traditional Bharatnatyam steps while singing a nursery rhyme OR imagining you are a bird, animal, or flower. We have to create a strong sense of belonging in the art early on.
Students enrolled at NNDA are privileged to get opportunities to perform at various prestigious events & corporate shows in the Philadelphia area. As you watch the beautiful Indian classical Bharatnatyam and contemporary Navanritya dances in the delightful costumes set to scintillating music, don’t forget to tell us what you thought about the impact our dance dramas made in your mind.
About Bharatnatyam:
Bharatnatyam originated 3000 years ago in the sacred Hindu temples of South India. Today, with its intricate techniques and dramatic element’s Bharatnatyam is the most popular Indian dance form in the world. This dance form brings out one’s innermost feelings & is a powerful form of expression that can depict cultural aspects, as well social issues and/or thematic plays in many Indian and non Indian languages and music. Our choreography has a contemporary touch to it as we are firm believers of evolution, while nurturing the purity of the technique for our students to establish a strong foundation in classical dance.
The complexity of the technique and training is similar to that of the Western Classical ballet with rigorous footwork & angular movements requiring tremendous tenacity. This dance requires 7-10 years to attain the status of a senior dancer, yet it takes a lifetime to reach perfection. The Bharatnatyam dancer is adept at presenting complex choreography incorporating skillful storytelling. We teach a unique flair of Bharatnatyam that brings the best of Kalakshetra and Kalamandalam styles.
About Navanritya Dance Style:
Navanritya, is an alternative approach to Indian dance that attempts to locate body-language within a contemporary-creative plot, started by Anwesha’s Guru (Sangeet Natak Academy Award winner) late Dr.Manjushree Chaki-Sircar . Methodically it comprises of a ‘chemical synthesis’ of several traditional Indian dance forms, ballet, martial arts, & yoga without their associated contexts’. Navanritya is thus in continuum for innovation in metamorphosed variation, and dazzling in creativity.
Anwesha’s Gurus presented world class productions with Navanritya dance techniques mainly on social issues. Anwesha is trying to follow their footsteps and expanding Navanritya’s reach to new stories with social themes as well as classics like Shakespeare’s dramas, Tagore’s plays, multicultural stories, and fairy tales.
Anwesha has also started including Navanritya dances as a part of the solo debut (Arangetram or Ranga Pravesha) curriculum so that students can utilize these innovating techniques to present themselves as senior dancers.