“Sit in Aramandi” Has Become My Motto

The glue that holds a Bharathnatyam performance together is a simple thing called the aramandi. Aramandi refers to the default posture of a Bharathnatyam dancer. Of course, there are other postures such as the muramandi (full sitting) and the samapadam (standing straight, feet together). But a dancer must always always return to the aramandi.

What does the aramandi look like? Well, it is a half sitting posture with your feet joined at the heels. It is very difficult to achieve the perfect aramandi, much less stay in that position while dancing. Which is why my Bharathnatyam teacher is forever telling us to “sit in aramandi” while we are dancing. She says it even to the most experienced dancers in our class, which just shows you just how hard it.

Needless to say, the aramandi is proving to be my Everest. My teacher has told me stop progressing to more difficult Bharathnatyam exercises until I have perfected my aramandi. Which is why “sit in aramandi” has become my motto. I say it to myself all the time to remind myself how far I still have to go. I even mutter it when I am not dancing, like when I am walking to my office.

I hope that by next week I manage to perfectly sit in aramandi and stay there. Otherwise, this journey will be a more difficult one than I had anticipated.