Pedagogy

Our interest in pedagogy stems from a deep introspection of how the form was taught and tracing back the stories we were told and aspects we were not introduced to. This re-imagination of bharathanatyam pedagogy is motivated to fill the gaps that we felt in our own learning journey and create environments that we missed growing up with this form.

Our classrooms now discuss and engage with many new dimensions that we include in our lessons, whether for beginners or advanced practitioners, by children or adults. Some key aspects that are now part of the pedagogy that we are developing at Nirali are –

A holistic understanding and deep awareness of our physical, emotional, psychological, and mental body and learning to condition and strengthen it as a ritual in all our classes.
Check-ins to ensure we bring ourselves to classes as we are and do not leave them outside the room.
Exploration of elements of technique to understand and articulate it better and not just repeated training of skill.
Subversion, critique, and questioning of pre-existing text and agenda of authors.
Understanding the history and politics of the form and developing a sensitivity to our positions and privileges.
Including our day-to-day realities in our lessons.
Learning to choreograph and make work to find our voice in the art form and making choreographic choices with intention.
Along with rigour and discipline also inculcates the idea of rest, pleasure, and play.
Finding ways to improvise, embody, and imagine in an otherwise structured form.
Discussing, watching, reading, reviewing, and writing as part of our movement practice.
Using personal stories and experiences as prompts for the creation of new work and to express ourselves with our dance.