Designing and Developing Motifs Inspired From Karanas in Bharatanatyam

Inspiration, is an attraction towards something, it gives us fresh ideas and new ways to explore something. It comes from many and various sources. Designing is a medium of expression involving the mind and heart. India has a rich cultural heritage, where music and dance has been interwoven with the social fabric. Dancing is considered to be an age-old tradition. In India, there are a number of classical dance forms which have been preserved through the centuries and have become an important part of our present culture. Dance is the mother of all arts. Bharatanatyam is the epitome of this Dance. It can truly be regarded as the crowning glory of the Indian Classical Dance. A unit of dance which includes the postures of the body, hand and foot movements is called a karana. In Bharatanatyam, 108 karanas form the basic movements. The motivation behind this research work is to develop bharatanatyam motifs in different postures of karanas in order to conceptualize new and innovative designs.