Balasaraswati: Dancing

“Although she was blind by that time, she was the best critique of my dance. If there is any one I would like to known, I would like to be remembered as Danam’s granddaughter.”

Balasaraswati

Her observation on her grandmother Danammal’s influence on her in dance and music quoted in "Balasaraswati: Her Art and Life", page=39
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Time , Dance

“Bharatanatyam is grounded in bhakthi. In fact bhakthi is at the center of all arts of India. Our music and dance are two offerings to God…This experience may only occur once in a while but when it does for that little duration, its grandeur enters the soul not transiently but with a sense of eternity. As one gets involved in the art, with greater and greater dedication, one can continuously experience throughout the few hours of the dance, the unending joy, this complete well-being, especially when music and dance mingle indistinguishably.”

Balasaraswati

Her comment on the role of dance and music in veneration of God. Quoted in "Balasaraswati: Her Art and Life", page=28
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God , Art , Music , Soul

“It may be true that I had dancing in my blood… I was a toddler when I danced deliriously with that street beggar. All called him a madman when he brought the house down with his frenetic dancing. Was he really mad? His unerring jatis (danced to rhythmic patterns) reverberate in my mind. Who knows which siddhapurusha (literally: “with all accomplishments”) he was? I can still see the gleam in his eye. If I am dance-mad now how could it be otherwise?… My first guru was a madman.”

Balasaraswati

[Knight, Douglas M., Balasaraswati: Her Art and Life, http://books.google.com/books?id=Q3EsA2NooW4C, 15 June 2010, Wesleyan University Press, 978-0-8195-6906-6, 17-18]
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Dance , Housing , Madness

“The initial inspiration for me to take up dancing came from seeing performances of Gauri Ammal when I was very young. If this lady had not brought the dance to such a stage of development, the combination of music and dance that I have attempted to realize would not have been possible.”

Balasaraswati

Quoted in "Balasaraswati: Her Art and Life", pp=25-26
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Music , Dance

“She was the only one where the music and dance were equally important… her dance moves were deeply affected by this… she was able to convey not only the meaning of the dance, but also the emotion of the music. That’s what I liked best.”

Balasaraswati

Rukmini Devi in Dance readings and musings Balasaraswati: Her Art and Life, 1 December 2013, Narthaki.com http://www.narthaki.com/info/bookrev/bkrev1a.html,

Music , Dance

“There used to be beggar, a sort of maniac, who would jump up and dance like a monkey while singing tat tarigappa tei ta, tat tarigappa tei ta.”

Balasaraswati

Bala would imitate him, both dancing like monkeys... All of us tried to snub him but the beggar could not be turned out. It meant a few coins for him; he made a regular visit to our house and the two used to dance. That was the real starting point for Bala’s dancing mania.

Singing , Dance