Product Details

• Actors: David Morrison
• Directors: Padma Chebrolu
• Format: Color, Full Screen, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• VHS Release Date: November 7, 2000
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000540AQ
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,081 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

DanceTeacher Magazine, January, 2001

dance! indian-style: Padma Chebrolu has released a comprehensive instructional dance video. This video demonstrated stylistic hand gestures ... Cristina Schmohl

Product Description

India's culture and art are both ancient and spiritual. Classical dances of India are born in the temples and are the dances of the mind, the soul and the divine. These dance traditions still follow the rules set by Guru Bharata in his Natya Sastra (Science of Dancing) from second century AD.

This dance instructional video is created for aspiring dancers who want to learn the basic technique and practice on a regular basis to become magnificent dancers. Learning any art takes time and practice. At the end, the rewards are wonderful. This is an attempt to introduce you to the technique and inspire you to pursue this art further. Some of the highlights of this video include; Salutation, Basic Positions, Single Hand Gestures, Warm up Exercises, Steps Series 1, Head Movements, Eye Movements,, Neck Movements, Steps Series 2, Double Hand Gestures, Poses, Costumes & Makeup, and Ananda Natanam Dance.

In the video, Padma Chebrolu demonstrates how she has taken her years of intense Bharata Natyam training and teaching experience to the dance studio. She instructs the viewer just as she trains her students in private classes. All of the steps are taught in simpler and smaller segments to make it easy to follow. Padma uses well organized material and standard teaching method throughout.

This video teaches traditional Bharata Natyam as performed by hundreds of millions of Indians all over the world. If you are interested in India and its arts, this video is a must for you.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Basics in a nutshell - celebrating the commercial birth of the American "Bharatanatyam", May 23, 2006

By	K. Palani (India) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Dances of India - Learning Bharata Natyam (DVD)

First of all, it was odd to read in the Product description that the author thinks that "Bharata Natyam as performed by hundreds of millions of Indians all over the world". In reality, less than 1 among 10000 Indians know even the basics of Bharatnatyam.

This DVD lets you watch 28 mudras, 20 hastas, 3 warm-up exercises (which is ridiculously inadequate), 8 head movements, 8 eye movements, 4 neck (stiff!) movements, 10 "poses", and 29 steps at 2 speeds. Considering that each DVD player can let you play the movie at half or quater speed, the whole idea of giving 2 speeds is foolish as there is no explanation of the different phases (and common errors) of the movements. The "guru" herself does not seem to realize the miriad of errors that she makes herself.

The cameraman was unaware of the difference between shooting a belly dancer and a Bharatanatyam dancer: very often the dancer's hands and feet in this DVD are cut out of the frame, and only the dancer's face and stomach are visible.

What surprised me most in "Dances of India - Learning Bharata Natyam" is the rather useless ("talking head" only) lenghthy introduction (7 minutes). All in all, nearly half of all the time in this DVD we see Padma Chebrolu's "talking head" - rather awkward for a "Bharatanatyam guru" too.

Don't expect to find anything useful in the "Costumes & Make-up" section. You can learn as much from here as from seeing 1 photo of a Bharatanatyam dancer.

The instructor, a full-time software engineer with an MBA, is well-aware of the inadequate quality of her demonstrations of something that is presented as "Bharata Natyam". If Tony Blair loses his job soon, he might well go to India and teach western ballet there. He will surely be better at it than P.Chebrolu at Bharata Natyam.

Anyone who knows how to search the Internet can find Bharata Natyam DVD trailers from Padma Chebrolu's "Learning Bharata Natyam" and see that it is no match for serious instructional Bharatnatyam DVDs like, for example, SriDevi Nrithyalaya's videos.

I bought this "Dances of India - Learning Bharata Natyam" DVD from Amazon out of curiosity, and now regret paying so much for another piece of junk.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for a complete novice and non-Indians, May 16, 2004

By	Anna Kern (NYC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dances of India - Learning Bharata Natyam (DVD)

If you are new to Bharata Natyam, this will be an interesting video to watch. You will not become a Bharata Natyam star after watching it, but you will surely find it useful if want to familiarize yourself of this Indian Classican dance.

Pro's:
1.This is one of 3 video's of Bharata Natyam that you can get on a DVD, which means that you can see even the facial expressions very well
2.Basic introduction to an extremely complex world of Bharata Natyam for non-Indian students who are new to the Indian culture
3.Well-structured and directed.

Con's:
1.In some places it looks like a fusion of other dance styles with Bharata Natyam, which is fine if you don't plan to become a top dancer like Balasaraswati in the past or Medha Hari of today
2.Covers a very limited area of the Bharata Natyam arsenal (roughly, about 0.1%) - what can you expect from a short video, after all?
3.Performance is good by the American standards but rather inadequate by the Indian (have you seen young Bharata Natyam dancers especially when they dance in the temples at the Hindu festivals?).

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LEARNING DANCES OF INDIA - VIA VIDEO, November 24, 2000

By A Customer

This is an excellent video. The quality is definitely a 5 stars. The instructor's method is easy to follow and understand.

This video will provide the people of India's culture a method for keeping their traditions alive throughout generations. Young as well as old, experienced as well as inexperienced, will be able to follow the instructions.

The instructor's method of sharing the connection of body, hand, and eye movements, helps the viewer understand the importance of each movement.

A welcome addition to the dance arena and more so, to the Culture of India.