ata tala varnam

[nritta]

can bharataantyam be performed in ata tala varnam, or only pada varnams are suited for dancing.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[rshankar]

Smt. Rukmini Devi was probably the first to adapt a tAna varNam for bharatanATyam when she got Tiger Sri Varadachari to compose sAhtitya for the svara sections of rUpamu jUci. Without those, the tAna varNams will just have a pallavi, anupallavi, and a short caraNam for lyrics, and the purpose of the varNam - the feature that makes it the centerpiece in any mArgam, the opportunity to showcase both nRtta and abhinaya and sancAris - will be lost, IMO.

[nritta]

Thats very interesting info, thanks Shankar sir. I understand, the scope for the dancer is higher in case of pada varnam !!

[keerthi]

rUpamu jUci doesn't seem like a tAna varna to me. The pallavi and anupallavi have too many long kArvai-s. And if we are to believe one story, it was composed expressly for the dance performance of Tiruvarur Kamalam [without any ciTTaswara-Sahityam etc].

Many of the glorious varna-s performed by artistes in the past were ATa tAla varnams - be they the older varnams of gOpAlayya and vIna kuppayyar ; or the later varnas of ponnayya and co, and swAti tiruNal.

There are plenty of ATa-tAla varnams with sAhitya for all sections; so I don't understand the question fully - are you referring to the rUpaka tAla varnams that are in circulation?

If varNas with no lyric in the ciTTaswara and ettugaDe swaras were unsuited for dance, why did the Tanjore brothers compose so many of them, that too in a bunch of tAlas? Surely not to increase the repertoire of concert musicians.

I think the Ata tAla varna-s are eminently suited (in some cases they even seem tailor-made) for interpretation in dance.