Bharatanatyam By Alarmel Valli Profile 1

First clip from 1980s profile in Madras/Chennai. It shows both her gurus in dancing & singing as well as her dancing in a temple.

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Music

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• Bharatanatyam
• Alarmel
• Valli
• tripmonk0
• world
• music

[dpinvogue]

Is sensuality any less spiritual? Please go read the Bible and you will see in it the Song of Songs, which is very sensual. The English forgot this poem when they went to India to 'civilise' Indians. What a joke! Plus, is the Geeta Govinda, widely used in Bharatanatyam and Odissi, vulgar? Please go read it and see what it is all about. If you read it as only to do with sex, then you miss the wider aspect of the beloved (bhakta) yearning to rejoin the lover (deva).

[umi414]

panentheism- God (Brahman) is in everything, and everything is in It.

everything is divine unless it is made vulgar. performing a pooja is vulgar if you do it after a couple beers. sexuality and eroticism are not exceptions.

[Maysoun2009]

he said Devine prostitutes,,,,typical britsch Brick

[Ko252]

I hate the commentator. Why use a western commentator to explain an Indian phenomenon, when he clearly dont understand it? It was as my religion book talking about Hinduism, when it was clear that the author could not grasp the concept at all.

[vidaripollen]

amazing .thanks for uploading.

[Mohamana]

Valli !!! Valli !!!! you can't sing! your a beautiful dancer but you just killed a JAVALI !!

[radhekrishna16]

@a1162043B : I was commenting on the dance form being a spiritual prayer and FYI,I did make it clear that Alarmel Valli is an excellent dancer !!!

[type3secretion]

This focus on sexuality is clearly more related to the filmmakers. While it is true that sex was far less prudishly regarding in India in the past as compared to the Victorian, or even modern, British, the temple dance was something else entirely. It was at it's highest - communion with God, not Man, the Devadasi were "married" to God, not Men. That was the original practice. It was of course corrupted at various times and ways, even at times the dancers becoming sexual slaves essentially.

[type3secretion]

"Siva means auspiciousness and linga means a sign or a symbol. Hence the Sivalinga is regarded as a "symbol of the great God of the universe who is all-auspiciousness." Harshananda, Swami. "The popular belief is that the Siva Lingam represents the phallus or the virile organ, the emblem of the generative power or principle in nature. This is not only a serious mistake, but also a grave blunder. Linga is the differentiating mark." ^ Sivananda, Swami

[a1162043B]

pls get the &^%$ out of here with your comments.

just comment on the beautiful dance

[radhekrishna16]

with all due respect to the wonderful exponent alarmel valli for her dancing.. note in the begining she does state that 'soul yearning for the absolute' and that is the essence in most songs.. the nayaki bhava..

there was no vulgarity, it was the bhava that the songs intended... the nayaki bhava for the absolute!,no cleansing was required,the modern day person ignorant of bhakthi and bhava can only apperciate it as an art form and not as a prayer!

[blissfulflo]

it reminds me of a story I heard, a great singer maybe Tansen? was asked by a king to come and sing for him, the singer was reluctant but somehow did sing for him. Then the king said "how is it your singing is not so touching as usual" the singer replied "usually I sing for God but today I am siging only for you!!!"