The Nātyaśāla Method
What is the Nātyaśāla Method?
The Nātyaśāla method is a systematic educational training program crafted by Shatakshi Goyal after extensive pedagogical research and restructuring to prime the Odissi dancer in physical, technical, creative, rhythmic, theoretical, artistic and spiritual aspects. The program will accelerate your progress in Odissi, with visible improvement in your dance. Your stamina, physical alignment, strength, flexibility, balance, articulation and understanding of Odissi theory will grow if you are self-disciplined and sincerely follow along. Your understanding of the material and structure of the Odissi style, its execution, repertoire and choreography will deepen. Videos will be published monthly for ensured progress of the committed student.
Why is the Nātyaśāla Method Unique?
The Nātyaśāla Method is unique because it expands the traditional vocabulary of Odissi and conditions our bodies, trains our mind, and engages our soul in order to be able to execute it. All necessary qualities and skills are rigorously worked upon through physical, mental, creative, spiritual, theoretical exercises and prepare the dancer for choreography execution. Furthermore, our classes are offered as professionally pre-recorded videos and therefore are more logistically more efficient than live videos. We encourage the students to submit their own videos following along for personalized corrections, thereby trying to most closely reproduce the ‘in-class experience. The Body Conditioning classes contain a roster of daily conditioning routines designed specifically to equip your body for Odissi. As you incrementally follow along and improve your flexibility, breath control, core conditioning, strengthening, hip articulation, isolation, mind-body connection, balance, and knee-care your abilities as a dancer will expand and will reimagine your Odissi physique and technique.
The Odissi Basics classes provide detailed videos on Odissi’s fundamentals: layers of opposition, rhythmic time lag, upper and lower body connection, gravity in the hip, weight transitioning without hip movement, basic body positions, the concept of an axis, organic torso deflection, wrist movement, angasuddhi, etc and build your Odissi vocabulary of psychosomatic movement.
The Theory classes analytically delve into various topics like Theology in Ancient Indian Dramaturgy, Aesthetic Theory (from Nātyaśastra, etc.), Bhakti-rasa (fusion of theology and aesthetic), Spiritual Significance of Odissi Repertoire, Nātya: Deliberate Art vs Contemporary, Owning Ancient Body Language and Ethos of an Ancient Civilization, Nātya and Man-Making in Present Times, Importance of Body Conditioning as Classical Dancers and many other thought-provoking, norm-challenging, present-day issues. You will also learn about rhythmic structuring and tala-theory, traditional Odissi Theory from the ancient dance texts Nātyaśastra, Abhinaya Darpana, and Abhinaya Chandrika.
The Repertoire classes will teach traditional pieces choreographed by the founding Gurus and the instructor will work personally with the dance student to help them master the individual items. The students should walk away with a fine-tuned aesthetic sensibility. Advanced repertoire classes will teach pieces choreographed by Danseuse Shatakshi Goyal and delve into analyzed, researched, and refined techniques, and explore the Odissi movement spectrum.
Who will benefit from this?
This program is meant for any beginner, intermediate or advanced student of dance who may or may not have access to a teacher, but needs guidance and clarity. Each student will receive corrections pertaining to his/her own level and depth of understanding.
The program is paced and guides your daily practice and growth. You will be able to set clear goals and develop a sound foundation in Odissi.
Although the program is specifically designed for students of the Odissi style, the awareness-heightening routines will greatly benefit practitioners of any other Indian classical dance-forms like Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam and Kathakali, which share alignment-understanding, plié positions and sculptural inspirations. It is also apt for overall fitness-training, toning, weightloss, irregardless of dance-interest, as the Body Conditioning exercises are designed to condition a well-rounded body.
The program wishes to inspire young practitioners world-wide and give refreshing, relevant perspectives, nuanced with aesthetics and spiritual mysticism through the window of Odissi.
We invite young practitioners to take a glimpse into the world of the ancient Indic Traditions and practices of happiness, through the window of Natya. On this Journey of Odissi, you will experience a living practice of the educational values, philosophy, the ethos of ancient India, engraved in its very own ancient repository of body language, an expression of love at a very deep universal level. In the process of churning the esoteric movements, the sincere student may experience deeper internal truths, beyond temporariness, an internal space free from external disturbances and thereby experience a journey into the extra-mundane.
Course Syllabus
Introduction to basic concepts of psychosomatic movement and fundamental concepts of Odissi: layers of opposition, rhythmic time lag, upper and lower body connection, gravity of the hip, weight transitioning without hip movement, hip joint usage, basic stances, organic torso deflection translating upward from footwork
Learn to use, communicate and identify movement with technical vocabulary: spinal alignment, hip alignment, hip joint articulation, protraction, turnout, flexion, lateral rotation, balancing, strengthening, activating, drawing-in, opening, extension, release, knitting, threading etc.
You will also learn about muscular nomenclature, develop and enhance psychosomatic/anatomical understanding, work on lean muscle development (agile+strength, not bulk), and muscle-specific strengthening/flexibility routines. You will also learn several asanas, their muscular benefits for our dance bodies, nomenclature, as well as dos and don’ts for maximum benefit.
You will develop a keen understanding of anatomically correct/incorrect movement, and recreate specificity in a variety of ranges of physical movement working with your mind to allow your body to move with ease through complex combinations.
Learn basic movements: walks, jumps, spins, and stance-specific movements. Simultenously we will work on your flexibility, core conditioning, strengthening, point practice, hip joint articulation, isolation, mind body connection as well as balance and knee protection and self care. You will learn to apply these new-found/increased abilities in your dance, as we urge you to break the cycle of habit through frequent reminders and heighten your awareness, which is a whole new ball game in itself. Our dance training specializes in incorporating understanding of modern movement techniques in classical training pedagogy.
How to make seamless weight transitions between different stances and movements to actually get a feel for the acquired form.
Understand rhythmic construct in Odissi Music, matra, laya, tala.
Learn about the significance of Bhumi Pranam, origins and revival of Odissi, and deepen your understanding of classical dance as an ethos of the people, begin to own this ancient repository of movement and cultural body language, understand what is classical movement and what is contemporary movement.
Learn how to create a plethora of rhythmic movement and create your own short dance paragraphs.
Learn a short choreography on Odissi music based on your above training!