18 APRIL, 2016
My arangetram Experience
Aarohi Torvi | Student
Aarohi and Shreya’s arangetram photoshoot
My mom/teacher had been talking to my friend’s mom for a little while and they had decided that since both me and my friend, Shreya, already learn together, why not just do our arangetrams together? Both of us were obviously ecstatic, and so our journey began.
Arangetram. The one thing that every Bharathnatyam dancer looks forward to. It is a sort of “coming of age” or a graduation. It is the thing that states that you, as a bharathnatyam dancer, have learned all the necessary pieces to complete your education in dance. But, don’t let those words fool you because all your teachers will always remind you, you still have much more to learn. I started my practice for the arangetram in December of 2016.
My mom/teacher had been talking to my friend’s mom for a little while and they had decided that since both me and my friend, Shreya, already learn together, why not just do our arangetrams together? Both of us were obviously ecstatic, and so our journey began.
The repertoire
We started by learning the Varnam. Which admittedly is the most challenging dance in the arangetram. It is a total of about 35 minutes long. I know form a good friend and someone who has done her arangetram before, that with live musicians, the time can become longer. Which does scare me a bit. The Varnam is about a girl, who is the human incarnation of Parvati, Shiva’s consort who is trying to convince Lor Shiva, that she is his wife. The first line says, “Swami Naan Unthan Yindra Ulagamela Adri Umai” Which translates to “Oh Lord, the entire world knows I am yours”.
Then, we started to learn the Pushpanjali or the opening dance. If the Varnam is the most tiring, then the Pushpanjali is the most stressful. Simply because it is the first dance of the show. That means it has to be the best one. IN the Pushpanjali, we as the dancers are expressing our thanks to the audience, Lord Shiva, and the Musicians who accompany us. After the Pushpanjali, we started learning the Ananda Nartanam, or a tribute to Lord Ganesh.
After the Anandan Nartanam, we learned our solo Padams. A Padam is a fully expressional piece in which the dancer tells a story through the emotions and steps. I am doing a song called, Ranga Na Dro Shamji. In which during Holi, Radhika is pleading with Krishna not to color her. She tries multiple approaches, from pleading, to exerting her beauty, to finally getting upset and questioning his morality. All in all, it is a very fun piece to practice, and I know it will twice as fun on stage. Soon after, we began to learn the Thillana. I don’t think that the Thillana has a story really, but it is one of the most fun pieces to do. The dance just seems to be the most modern to me. It has a sort of beauty that no other dance has and I love it.
Some life lessons
Still, as in all major experiences in your life, you always come out of them with something new you learned. And from this experience, I have learned that one, you’re probably not as bad as you think you are. As long as you put in practice, time, and effort, you will succeed and people will know that you did the best that you could and will congratulate you.
Two, “Fake It Till You Make It… Then Fake It Some More.” That’s what my Youth Symphony director always says. It comes in handy too! Especially when performing the Varnam. If I just fake a smile and pretend that I know what I’m doing, which I do, then nothing will go wrong. Anyways, by the end of the day, your hard work will be rewarded.
Three, No matter what, SMILE, SMILE, SMILE! I have the bad habit of not smiling when I’m focusing on the dance. That’s when both my mom and Shreya have to yell at me. It takes time but soon, I’m smiling through the pain. My mom always tells the other classes to “smile as much as it hurts. If it hurts, smile more!” and that ideology has really worked for me. If I mess up, I smile, if my legs hurt, I smile, but obviously, I’m not smiling enough. So I must smile some more.
The entire process for the arangetram has been an amazing, and torturous thing at the same time. There are times when I wonder what would happen if I didn’t do the arangetram, but the alternatives are always better. The pros outweigh the cons (if there even are any)and I enjoy what I do. When I can’t sleep, I run over my dances and they lull me to sleep.
When I do the mile in PE, I think of my dances and the tiredness goes away. (at least until I’m done with the mile)and honestly, dance is a beautiful thing. So I wouldn’t stop for the world. SO that’s my arangetram experience. The ups and downs of it will still come in the future, but for now, I’m just happy that it gets me college credits. (That was a joke.)