The book covers chapters from Abhinayadarpanam - the classical text on head, eyes and neck movements - with original Sanskrit verses and their English translations. Further, the book includes verbatim translations and phrasal meanings, as well as detailed photographic illustrations of the texts. Short notes on several foundational concepts of Bharatanatyam are included in the book.
Mukhaja Abhinaya, or facial expressions, are the most fascinating and significant aspect of Indian classical dance. The entire face is employed in bringing out the Bhava or mood.
The Mukhaja (facial expressions) combined with hand gestures, form the most relevant ingredients for dance communication. Hence a thorough, basic knowledge of these movements and their usages will give a student the confidence to express, explore as well as create.
Shiro Bhedhaah (head movements) imbibes within itself the facial expressions and eye movements. Thus the movements of the head, eyes and neck all work together to complete the aesthetic representation of the meaning of the lyrics.
Jayalakshmi Eshwar is an internationally acclaimed Bhartanatyam exponent of par excellence- an excellent performer, choreographer, teacher and author, with experience of more than four decades in dance. She trained in performing arts at "Kalakshetra", Chennai - the pioneering college of fine arts envisioned by Late Smt. Rukmini Devi Arundale, who has been a guiding inspiration for Jayalakshmi.
Jayalakshmi strikes a perfect blend of tradition and contemporary interpretation, without obscuring the aesthetics of the classical idiom. She has a vast range and depth of productions to her name, having performed in solo, group and collaborative formats extensively in India and abroad. She is the Head of the Bharatanatyam Section at Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi, and has also has her own Centre "Abhinayaa".
She has performed both solo and in group productions in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, France, UK, South America, USA, Canada, Bahrain, Indonesia, Russia, Ukraine, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Australia, North Korea, Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya & Syria, and renowned cultural organisations across India. She has also played a Tanjore Dancer in the National Award Winning classical Kannada film "Hamsa Geethe" by the Late G.V.Iyer.
Her internationally acclaimed contribution to Bharatanatyam was her earlier three instructional books- "Bharatanatyam How To" - a self-teaching manual for students on learning the nuances of Bharatanatyam dance form. "Hastha Prayogaah" on the vocabulary of Hand Gestures and "Paadha Bhedhaah" vocabulary of feet movement in Bharatanatyam. All the books are complete with multimedia support material of audio and video DVDs. Her creativity also extended in releasing an unique educational "Card Game", based on all the classical dance forms. She has released, under the aegis of CIET,NCERT,Govt. of India, 25 episodes in a DVD titled-`LANGUAGE OF DANCE".
She has been a recipient of the Senior Fellowship Award from Sangeet Natak Akademi. She is an empaneled artist of ICCR, GOI & 'A-Top' graded Artist of Doordarshan Kendra. Recently she was awarded "Acharya Kala Bharathi" by Bharat Kalachar, Chennai. She has also worked with the hearing impaired children for several path breaking productions.
Residing in New Delhi, she continues to perform apart from teaching, choreographing concepts that are wholesome, educational and spiritual experience for the audience.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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