Classical dance gets a tech touch

Bharatanatyam dance Guru Ananda Shankar Jayant set to launch a new dance practice app ‘Natyarambha’ on January 22

To enable classical dance students practice and hone their ‘adavus’ outside the classroom and provide teachers and gurus with a useful training tool, acclaimed dancer, scholar, speaker, writer and guru Ananda Shankar Jayant has conceptualised a unique web application ‘Natyarambha’ that serves as a personal Bharatnatyam coach.

“The first-of-its-kind Bharatanatyam practice app, scheduled to be launched in Hyderabad on January 22, is inspired by the Prime Minister’s ‘Digital India’ initiative and aims to motivate students to practice and rehearse their basic training beyond the classroom’,” says Ananda, one of India’s eminent dancers, who has been teaching and choreographing dance for over four decades.

“Natyarambha bridges the gap between class room training and home practice,” she adds. “It comes with detailed guidance, mnemonics, music, and visuals, replicating the format of a Bharatanatyam class, and a range of practice options that will make practice at home easy, exciting, and stimulating for students; who will now have a ready digital access similar to the dance class, that is also interactive and engaging,” says the dancer.

Senior software professional and Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher, Sneha Magapu, heading Project Natyarambha, has enabled a traditional dance form ride the technology wave, by synergising her unique skill set of a software professional and a Bharatanatyam dancer.