Dances of India - Learning Bharata Natyam

Rating:
Summary: Buyer Beware
Review: Do not buy this dvd if you are thinking it will give you a workout or that it will get you dancing like they do in Bollywood films. The dvd is 75% talk and the other 25% is the demonstration of a single step or hand gesture again and again and again. This is not the dvd to get if you want to dance at an Indian wedding (as I did)....

Rating:
Summary: love it
Review: everyday i've been practicing with the great teacher whenever i want.the instructions are clear without too much repetition,so i can stop the video and practice on my own,that way there is more information on for the amount of time.

Rating:
Summary: Even for the novice....
Review: Having recently been introduced to the culture of India, I was thrilled to find a video specializing in dance. Being a complete novice when it comes to the dances of India, I found it to be extremely user friendly for a first time student. The instructor, Padma Chebrolu, is radiant, she has a combination of qualities that transcend the medium of video. She takes complex dance routines and makes them appear effortless. Learning about the traditional costumes and makeup was a additional highlight I really enjoyed. I highly recommend this video to anyone interested in expanding their dance repertoire.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoying the dual benefit
Review: Hi! My name is Usha. I am an Indian. Right from my childhood I had a fascination for Indian dance but couldn't learn it since I didn't get the opportunity to do so. For the past few months, I have been suffering from back pain, which my doctor diagnosed it as Sciatica and my doctor advised me not to do any kind of exercise and take rest as much as possible. I was very worried about my health. I purchased this video a month ago, and slowly started doing the steps everyday and increased the number of adavus (steps) day by day. To my dismay, I noticed that my backpain reduced considerably! I started doing the dance religiously, without even missing a day. I am very happy that I am enjoying dual benefit from the dance. One is, I am learning the art of dancing, which I cherish, and the other is sort of a therapy for my Sciatica, which was hurting me very badly. I look at this as a bonus although I never intended this video to cure my health problems. I hope that you enjoy learning Bharata Natyam and I highly recommend this video to you.

Rating:
Summary: Study of Indian Dance
Review: I found this video to be an excellent instructional piece. It is well written and directed. The instructor is a most talented dancer and an informative teacher. The video is easy to follow and will be an asset to anyone studying the fine art of Bharata Natyam.

Rating:
Summary: Very helpful DVD to learn Bharata Naatyam
Review: I started taking Dance classes few weeks back. This DVD is very helpful for me to practice at home and in keeping me up to the mark for my next class. This video illustrates the steps, hand gestures in a simple and detail way and makes it easy for me to learn.
Along with this DVD I also bought "Dances of India - Bharata Natyam Arangetram Dances DVD" As I practice many steps in advance with "Dances of India - Learning Bharata Natyam
DVD", I am able to follow the dances in this DVD very well.
As I have the DVDs in hand I practice every day at home, which helped me in healing my back pain (I guess some postures and movements helped in setting up the painful area of my back), which I had for several months. I recommend these DVDs for who are interested in learning Bharata Naatyam and don't have time to go to class every day.

Rating:
Summary: Dances of India Learning Bharata Natyam Instructional dance
Review: I wish I had read the reviews of others before I bought this video, because I wouldn't have purchased it.

Don't buy this if you want to work out through learning dance (like I did). The dance instruction is constantly interrupted with explanations of culture and such. The dancing will in no way get your heart rate up.

This is an excellent video for people who want to learn simple dance steps and how to pronounce and spell cultural dance movements. Also very informational concerning other areas of Indian dance culture.

Rating:
Summary: Good for a complete novice and non-Indians
Review: If you are new to Bharata Natyam, this will be an interesting video to watch. You will not become a Bharata Natyam star after watching it, but you will surely find it useful if want to familiarize yourself of this Indian Classican dance.

Pro's:
1.This is one of 3 video's of Bharata Natyam that you can get on a DVD, which means that you can see even the facial expressions very well
2.Basic introduction to an extremely complex world of Bharata Natyam for non-Indian students who are new to the Indian culture
3.Well-structured and directed.

Con's:
1.In some places it looks like a fusion of other dance styles with Bharata Natyam, which is fine if you don't plan to become a top dancer like Balasaraswati in the past or Medha Hari of today
2.Covers a very limited area of the Bharata Natyam arsenal (roughly, about 0.1%) - what can you expect from a short video, after all?
3.Performance is good by the American standards but rather inadequate by the Indian (have you seen young Bharata Natyam dancers especially when they dance in the temples at the Hindu festivals?).

Rating:
Summary: The tape does no justice to Bharatnatyam
Review: In my opinion, the tape does no justice to Bharatnatyam. This tape is good for those who have no knowledge about Bharatnatyam. It is a complete spam. The chollkutt(speech) is very poor and the words are mispronounced. I am not sure which style of Bharatnatyam it follows. The dancer's face has no expression or shows no enthusiasm. The dress attire of the dancer too doesn't follow any regime. The dancer's movements are not energetic. (...)

Rating:
Summary: This is a neat video!!!
Review: My five year old daughter just started taking classical dance classes. As I do not have dance background, I was struggling to help her practice at home. Then one of my friend recommended this video to me.

This video breaks up the steps, hand gestures and other movements into simple segments and makes it easy for me to help my daughter learn. Everyday after school, I just put the tape on and make my daughter follow the video. Some times I get up and try it out too. This has become a mom and daughter fun time.

My daughter has made excellent progress in the recent weeks. She now can remember the detailed aspects of each movement. She can pronounce all the Sanskrit terminology. She is moving very fast compared to other children of her age. Her teacher is very impressed by her progress. I recommend this to all the parents like me who are planning to join their child in the classical dance class. It really made things easy on us.