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Jatiswaram ___ Margam Part 2

Once a dance student perfects Allaripu, he moves on to the next step -- "Jatiswaram". Jatiswaram, traditionally the second item of a bharatnatyam performance emphasises " Nritya" or physical movements. Here the rythemic jati patterns blends with the swaras (musical notes) hence the name Jatiswaram (Jati plus swaram). There is no Sahittayam only Charanam( which can be 3 or more ) and pallavi. Here the pallavi is sung many times where the dancer performs different Adavus (basic steps), Korvai( combinations of adavus) and Tirmanam (conclusions). This dance has both mellody and movements. It has special note and asthetic pleasure is created by poses and movemts. Jatiswaram can be set to different Talam and Ragam to create an interesting performances. Being from Thanjavur the most famous Jastiswaram that I have seen are Kalyani (Rupaka talam), Vasantha (Rupakam ), Ragamallika ( Mishra Chapu).

Swarajatis are also very similar to Jatiswaram, the only difference that I can see is the presence of Sahittyam in them.



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