Another dimension that dance research can explore is to understand and analyse the correlation between music and dance. Music is essential for the successful staging of a dance piece. The two go hand in hand and are both subservient to Rasa. We must understand how the three octaves and the three speeds present in music – an auditory medium, translate into movement into the visual medium of dance.[1]
Today, physiology has developed as an independent branch of study. We must take its help in our analysis of movement vocabulary. Physiology can help us understand what joints can take what kind of movements and the limitations of the different parts of our body. We can also get an idea about the extent to which each individual can contribute based on his bodily limitations. It is all the more important to analyse every movement from the point of view of aesthetics while keeping physiology as the backdrop. It is only beauty that matters in art – everything else is peripheral to it.
In Pāṭalīputra lived two brāhmaṇas - Yajñasoma and Kīrtisoma. Among the two, the younger one, Kīrtisoma, flourished through the business he set up with the wealth he inherited. Yajñasoma, however, ate and drank and gave away generously whatever he had and eventually became a pauper. He couldn’t bear to be thus among his relatives and decided to migrate to a different kingdom. However, he couldn’t even muster money for the journey, even from his younger brother. Kīrtisoma did want to help his elder brother with some money out of affection, but his wife wouldn’t let him.
There are many dimensions that research in classical Indian dance can explore and many paths it can choose to tread. This is, in fact, true from a global perspective as well. But we shall limit the current discussion to the dance forms of India that have traditionally come down to us.
ಡಾ।। ಪದ್ಮಾಸುಬ್ರಹ್ಮಣ್ಯಂ ಅವರು ಈಚಿನ ಶತಮಾನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಲುಪ್ತಪ್ರಾಯವಾಗಿದ್ದಂತಹ ನಾಟ್ಯಶಾಸ್ತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಉಲ್ಲೇಖಗೊಂಡಿರುವ ಶುಷ್ಕಾಕ್ಷರಗಳನ್ನು ನೃತ್ತ-ನೃತ್ಯ-ನಾಟ್ಯ-ಪ್ರಯೋಗಗಳಲ್ಲಿಯೂ (ಅಂಗಹಾರಾದಿಗಳ ಪ್ರಯೋಗ), ಪೂರ್ವರಂಗದ ಭಾಗವಾಗಿಯೂ ವಿನಿಯೋಗಿಸಿರುವರು. ಇವರಿಂದ ಪ್ರೇರಿತರಾದ ಅವರ ಶಿಷ್ಯ-ಪ್ರಶಿಷ್ಯವರ್ಗವೂ ಇಂತಹ ಶುಷ್ಕಾಕ್ಷರಗಳನ್ನು ಔಚಿತ್ಯಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿಯೂ ರಸಪೋಷಕವಾಗಿಯೂ ವಿನಿಯೋಗಿಸಿರುವುದನ್ನು ಕಾಣಬಹುದು. [1]ಇವೇ ಶುಷ್ಕಾಕ್ಷರಗಳು ದೇಶೀನೃತ್ಯ-ನಾಟ್ಯಪದ್ಧತಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ 'ಸೊಲ್ಲು-ಕಟ್ಟು', 'ತತ್ಕಾರ್' ಇತ್ಯಾದಿಯಾಗಿ ಪ್ರತಿಬಿಂಬಿತವಾಗಿವೆ.
ಭಾರತದ ಅಭಿಜಾತ-ನೃತ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು ನಾಟ್ಯ ಕಲೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಗೀತ-ವಾದ್ಯಗಳು ಅತ್ಯಮೂಲ್ಯವೂ ಅತ್ಯಾವಶ್ಯಕವೂ ಆದ ಆಲಂಬನಗಳಾಗಿವೆ[1]. ಕರ್ಣರಂಜಕವಾದ ಗಾನವಾದನಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ಮೂಡಿಬರುವಂತಹ ನೃತ್ಯ-ನಾಟ್ಯಗಳು ಮಾತ್ರವೇ ಮನೋರಂಜಕವಾದವು. ಗೀತವಾದ್ಯವಿಹೀನವಾದ ಕೇವಲದೈಹಿಕಚಲನೆಯು ಹಾಸ್ಯಾಸ್ಪದವಾದೀತು, ಅಥವಾ ಕಿವುಡರಿಗೆ ಒಂದಾನೊಂದು ಸಂದೇಶವನ್ನು ನೀಡುವ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮವಾದೀತು. ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ಚಲನಶೀಲವಾದ ದೃಶ್ಯಮಾಧ್ಯಮದ ಕಲೆಗೆ ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಚಲನಶೀಲವೂ ಸುಂದರವೂ ಆದ ಸಂಗೀತವು ಅನಿವಾರ್ಯವಾದುದು. ಹೀಗಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಸ್ಥಿರದೃಶ್ಯಕಲೆಗಳಾದ ಚಿತ್ರ-ಶಿಲ್ಪಗಳು ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರವಾಗಿ, ವಾಚಿಕನಿರಪೇಕ್ಷವಾಗಿ ನಿಲ್ಲಬಲ್ಲವು ಎಂಬುದು ಗಮನಾರ್ಹ.
3. Kāvya
This has three stages too.
1. Manaḥ-prasāda – The nāndī-padyas in a kāvya, the description of city, country, mountains, forests, rivers, forts, palaces – these establish a context for the story; these are the embellishments and charming aspects.
2. Bhāvāveśa – The core flavour lies in the scenes of the story and in the human characters. Tyagaraja in one of his lyrical melodies narrates this story:
Art—kalā—is an adroit phenomenon[1] that gives our mind the experience of some beauty or some grandeur or some profound thought through our eyes, ears, and other senses.
It is rather unlikely that experts in music and dance will find immense value in the episodes narrated here[1]. These have been written by an ordinary man who has no knowledge of the śāstras[2] [related to art] nor the strength of rigorous practice but is merely a connoisseur of good music and dance.