By Eleanor Davies
Most people, when thinking of traditional Indian dance and music, would imagine the sort of thing you see in a Bollywood movie with bangra dancing.
However the creator of dance group Nrityakala, Minakshi Ajay, couldn’t disagree more.
Her dance group specialises in the dance form Bharatanatyam, a traditional Indian dance which is still relatively unknown in this country.
“It’s a dance of the gods, the Greeks have Aphrodite, and Indians have this,” she explains. “It’s rich in art and music, it goes back centuries and is a classical art form which is well known in India.”
So just what type of dance is it?
“The dance involves lots of stretching, you need to be very supple,” she says. “It’s a very popular dance form, it can tell stories, you can portray flowers or birds with hand gestures and the movement and grace. It transports you into another world.”
Imagine a cross between yoga and ballet and I think you could be half way to understanding what the dancing looks like, but there’s more to it than just dancing, as the 37-year-old explains.
“It’s very hard to learn, it requires a lot of discipline and different body angles. It is very complex and you have to learn the entire package, you can’t just take the movement you need to have an understanding of the language.”
If you’re still struggling to imagine what the dancing is like then you can go and see for yourself as Mina and her dance group will be performing at The Broadway Theatre, Barking on Sunday 1 August.
“My students will perform for the first two and a half minutes as a sort of good luck dance – it’s actually the dance of the elephant they will be doing. And then I will perform for the rest of the show solo, the dance is actually traditionally done solo.
“People can expect to be transported to a different world full of vibrant statuesque poses, world of gods, a different era, lots of colour and story telling all to beautiful music - a visual artistry,” she laughs.
“It will be a rich experience for those not familiar with the dance, they need to come with an open mind and not expect bollywood dancing which is not traditional Indian dance. Hopefully they will find it fascinating.”
For tickets to their show in August call The Broadway Theatre, Barking, on: 020 8507 5607.