More about Adavus

July 21st, 2007 by Anjali

Let us explore on Adavus a little more. The word “Adavu” means basic step. Adavus forms the ABC’s of pure dancing(Nritta) in bharatanatyam. Just like a combination of alphabets give words and thereafter sentences, adavus are combined to form a dance sequence in Bharatanatyam.

An Adavu is the combination of:

  • Position of the legs (Sthanakam)
  • Posture of our standing (Mandalam)
  • Walking movement (Chari)
  • Hand gestures (nritta hastas)

All the four done in synchronization with Rhythm or Tala is ADAVU. Every Adavu will have certain number of steps and would have a BOL or syllable like “Tai Ya- Tai Hi”.

Following are the Ten important Adavus that a new student is asked to practice thoroughly:

  1. Tatta Adavu
  2. Natta Adavu
  3. Visharu Adavu (Mardita Adavu or Paraval Adavu)
  4. Tattimitti Adavu
  5. Tirumanam Adavu
  6. Murka Adavu
  7. Jati Adavu
  8. Kuditamitta Adavu
  9. Mandi Adavu
  10. Sarikal Adavu

Some parents and students have often asked me why should we learn these steps and not the dance directly?
A child when starts schooling , learns the alphabets first. Imagine if they were taught words directly!!!
Learning just the adavus and practicing them for a while helps the students to :
1. to develop flexibility and overcome the initial muscle cramps and sore feet at the beginning stages.
2. attain right posture
3. develop stamina
4. become aware to the sense of Talam (Rhythm) and kalam (speed)
5. become Swift and agile and attain control over the body.

Generally During the first year of Bharatanatyam coaching, a student is trained only in Adavus, and Nritta Hasta or Hand Gestures. Gaining perfection over Adavus is the most important.

I shall describe about TATTA Adavu in my next post.

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Related posts:

  1. Tatta Adavu in Bharatanatyam
  2. Tatta Adavu in Bharatanatyam (video)
  3. Tatta adavu first and second variation sollukettu (Audio)
  4. Tatta Adavu - Fifth Step
  5. Tatta Adavu in Bharatanatyam

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Leave A Comment

29 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Nishita Aug 13, 2007 at 11:18 pm

    Hi Anjali, would u please tell us something more about Natta Adavus and further Adavus? How to do steps in detail?

  • 2 Anjali Aug 14, 2007 at 1:42 pm

    Hi Nishita, Thanks for visiting. Yes I shall describe the Natta adavus within my next few postings .Stay tuned……

  • 3 Rashmi Aug 20, 2007 at 11:01 am

    Hi,
    I really liked how you described the thattu adavu concept. My daughter is currently taking BN lessons. She’s struggling with the 2nd visharu adavu. Could you please email/post the proper technique for doing that adavu. I’d like to help her practice at home.
    Regards,
    Rashmi

  • 4 Anjali Aug 21, 2007 at 7:09 am

    Rashmi, Thanks for your kind words. I shall mail your directly to understand and help your child better.

  • 5 Savita Nov 27, 2007 at 2:08 am

    Hi Anjali,

    First, let me tell you that your site is amazing. I am 30 years old and have started dancing again after a 20 year hiatus! I love your sincerity, your positive energy, and your smile.

    Are you going to post the other adavus soon?

    I am learning the Kalekshetra method. What is the difference between yours and this method?

    Thanks,
    savita

  • 6 Anjali Nov 27, 2007 at 10:50 am

    Hi Savita, Thanks a bunch for your kind words. Its good to know you have taken up dancing again. Yes i will post the other adavus soon. I practice the Pandanallur style. Kalskshetra and Pandanallur are more or less the same. Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai was the propagator of this style. Rukmini devi who started the Kalakshetra was the disciple of
    Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai. So I guess there should be lot of similarities between these styles.

  • 7 Anu Jan 30, 2008 at 12:05 pm

    Hi Anjali,
    My 6 yrs old daughter has been learning BN for a while. I’ve been struggling to make sure that she is practicing the right way. I stumbled upon your blog few days ago. It was very helpful for me. After going through the articles i could understand what is going on in her class and correct her while practicing. Thanks a ton! I’ve been referring your site to all other parents in her class.

    Is it possible for you to post the audio of sollukattu for basic adavus? I find it very difficult to give sollukattu to my daughter in the right taalam and speed. She will be taking year 1 exam from Singapore Indian Fine Arts Academy. She is learning thattadavu, nattadavu, paraval adavu, kudhitthumettadavu and thath thei thaam adavu. i was searching for audio for kalakshetra style in all 3 speeds, which i could play to make my daughter practice. so far could not find any thing suitable.

    Also what is thath thei tham adavu? do you have an article on that?

    thanks
    anu

  • 8 Anjali Jan 30, 2008 at 12:51 pm

    Hi Anu, thanks for lot. I appreciate your concern for your daughter. Not all parents show such a seriousness towards extra curricular activities. May your daughter have a great future. I shall try if i can do something with the sollukattu…..not sure. Why dont you approach her guru and request her to record it for you. Nowadays recording is so easy can be done with a laptop and a mike or even a mobile. In this way she gets to practice with the sollukattu that she is familiar with.
    “tat tai tam, dhi tai tam” is the Bols for Murka Adavu. Some call it Sutral Adavu aswell.
    Sending you a link in youtube …might help you.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0CbNeB_V8w

  • 9 Anu Jan 30, 2008 at 1:28 pm

    Hi Anjali,

    That was fast reply. I’m really speechless. Thanks for the formal name for sutral adavu. I have the full vcd of the youtube video sou sent me. I was still going through marditha adavu, never saw the CD completely. Thanks again. I was able to follow your steps easily as they came with lot of explainations. Now i’m able to follow the CD better.

    I’ve been trying to record the audio during the class, but the voice quality is not so good, gets disturbed many times. I guess i’ll have to take permission and use my digital camera to record it. I’m planning to request the guru to spend some time on the recording and distribute it to other parents as well.

    I bought Natya Dwani, the sollakattu is a tiny bit faster than her guru. But she is OK with your videos. So i thought of asking you. Please keep up the good work and upload more videos and articles soon. I’m sure many parents and kids would be benefited.

    I was on the verge of giving up on understanding the steps, luckily i hit upon your blog. Will be writing to you again, As and when i get into trouble :).

    Thanks so much for taking out time to answer and that too within few min.

    Anu.

  • 10 Veena Jun 18, 2008 at 9:30 pm

    Hi Anjali,
    Awesome work!! it would be great help if you could also include the sollu kattu for each of these sets of adavus. I have learnt these adavus but am not familiar with some of the names. With the sollu, it will make it much easier for me to tell which one is which. :-)
    Thanks a million in advance….
    Veena.

  • 11 Anjali Jun 19, 2008 at 9:03 am

    Hi Veena, Thanks for the encouragement. Yes I shall try doing this.

  • 12 amrutha Sep 29, 2008 at 7:10 am

    ur article shows ur expertise of whatever u know in this art form. its really good.

  • 13 Anjali Sep 29, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    Thank you Amrutha. I am still a student of this divine art and it seems like a never ending path. But the journey is fulfilling.

  • 14 nishta and harsha venkatesh Jan 7, 2009 at 5:01 pm

    i like your dancing

  • 15 Shweta Jan 18, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    Hi Anjali,

    Thank you for doing such a wonderful job. I am very passionate about classical dances especially Bharatanatyam. But I never got to learn this wonderful art due to lack of resources in our village. I used to dance for some classical songs and folk songs during school day performances. So never got to learn from the basics. I am very glad I found this website of yours.

    Thank you soooooo mcuh…

    Regards,
    Shweta

  • 16 Anjali Jan 19, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    Hello Shweta, thanks for the encouragement. I am glad you are now able to learn from this site. Nice to know about your dancing abilities too. Continue and keep performing and exploring. Good luck.

  • 17 Varuna Mar 3, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    You are blessed with the flair of dancing so beautifully that it feels like a poem. Balance, holding the pose and the steps are graceful and have good instructions too.
    Can you please elucidate/show/upload videos on tat tai tam adavu, mandi adavu, paaichal and kuditu mettu adavus? I didn’t find much about them and would sincerely like to learn them.

  • 18 Anjali Mar 4, 2009 at 6:32 am

    Varuna, thank you for your kind words. Yes I shall be posting them gradually. stay tuned.

  • 19 sujitha May 9, 2009 at 11:25 am

    hi i like dis website but it is not clear in sum kind of way

  • 20 sujitha May 9, 2009 at 11:26 am

    anjali r u da 1 who is at da top of da page

  • 21 shruti Jun 2, 2009 at 8:12 am

    I really like your site, as I’ve learnt bharatanatyam for 8 yrs and find it very helpful while brushing through basics etc.

    I just wanted a little help on the details of utplava adavu. I learnt that there is this adavu about jumps but have no further information on it. could you please help me with that? also could you post some details about mandi adavu?
    thanks
    shruti

  • 22 hari Jun 30, 2009 at 8:33 am

    murka adavu,jati adavu,mandi adavu-????????????whats wrong?
    i cant see them

  • 23 Anjali Jul 1, 2009 at 12:12 am

    Hello Hari , Will keep adding them, stay tuned. Thank you.

  • 24 Aarthi subramaniam Aug 11, 2009 at 5:22 am

    very gud inputs thank you. do you have any inputs on natya shasthra? if you can share it ti will be helpful.

    thank you

    regards
    Aarthi

  • 25 Anjali Aug 11, 2009 at 7:43 am

    Will try and make it, Thanks Aarthi

  • 26 Ashley Sep 22, 2009 at 1:22 pm

    Namaskar Guruji
    how are you?
    What will we learn when we have finished the 10 adavus and the variations?

  • 27 Anjali Sep 23, 2009 at 5:27 am

    After all adavus we start with Allarippu.

  • 28 tarana Sep 26, 2009 at 12:36 am

    Hi Anjali, Very impressed with your site. Keep up the good work!
    My twin girls (7 yr olds) have been learning BN for a year now. We live in US & I know nothing about BN. Your site is a great resource to teach them the Adavus, Adavu names & the Bol. I especially appreciate the Explanations & the Videos. Since I discovered your site, the girls have been elated as they are able to better keep up with their teacher.

    How soon will you be posting Mandi Adavu?

  • 29 kirijambal Feb 9, 2010 at 4:32 am

    hi Anjali
    Would you please let me know where I could obtain the lyrics for saraswathy jathiswaram in rupakam talam, and also
    whether I could see it in video ( acutal dance performance )

    Thank you
    Kirijambal