IdentityFounded by Karuna Sagari, Bhakti Natya Niketan (BNN) offers Bharatanatyam classes for students of different ages and levels in the Kalakshetra style inspired by the reformist yet resolutely classical spirit of Kalakshetra’s founder, Rukmini Devi.
As a school of the Indian performing arts, BNN draws inspiration from the arasa maram (peepul tree or the bodhi tree). When a breeze ripples through the arasa maram, each leaf dances individually though nurtured by the same root. BNN aspires for each of its students to retain their individuality, fostered and nurtured by the parent institution.BNN firmly believes in Smt. Rukmini Devi’s ideal that a Bharatanatyam dancer must develop an understanding and appreciation of the allied arts which revolve around the dance. Students are exposed to Nattuvangam, poetry appreciation, temple architecture and sculpture, mythology, the history of the art-form and biographies of eminent personalities who have contributed to it.
Organic Teaching Methodology
Bharatanatyam is taught organically, much like native language acquisition in a child. Students start “conversing” using the art and gradually, step-by-step, acquire the grammar to perfect their dance technique. Students are taught tala, abhinaya and dance theory from the very beginning, so that they learn to appreciate and practise the art-form in a holistic sense.All BNN’s instructors are Kalakshetra Foundation or BNN's home grown talents.
