O.C. DANCE : Class Will Take Dance of India Step by Step

Dance in India is deeply connected to religious devotion, but dancer Ramaa Bharadvaj believes that Western students can pick up some of the technique without converting to Hinduism.

So she is teaching a summer course in Bharata Natyam, one of the classical dance idioms of southern India, at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, beginning Friday.

“You can divorce this dance form from the religious significance attached to it and look at it just as a technique, a concept that can be elaborated as well,” Bharadvaj said in a recent phone interview.

“Ritual devotion has preserved the art form over the centuries. Without that, it wouldn’t have survived. But at the same time, the technique itself can be used without believing in a particular god or religion. That comes in only when the concept of a production is formed, not in the dance style itself.”

The purpose of the class, a first in this style of dance for the college, is to “appreciate the grandeur of the dance form,” she said. But she also wants the students to “change their own dancing” by incorporating Indian rhythmic structures and interpretive gestures.

“That is something that can benefit ethnic dance students, as well as students in the dramatic and theater arts.”

Born and schooled in Madras, Bharadvaj settled in Yorba Linda three years ago after having lived in Boston. Since then, she has danced locally with her twin sister, Uma Suresh, and their daughters and has given talks and demonstrations at Orange Coast College.

This course grew out of the tremendous interest these efforts generated, she said. Bharadvaj sees the class as an introduction to an 18-week course she plans to teach at the college in the fall.

“What takes eight years to learn for someone who is steeped in the culture can’t be taught in eight weeks, or even 18 weeks, to someone who isn’t.

“So I have structured the course as an introduction to the performing aspects and the theoretical, historical and cultural values attached to music and dance in India. They can appreciate how we feel about the dance. . . . It will also be highly visual and dramatic.”

Because she lacks a doctorate, Bharadvaj had to take an equivalency examination to be able to teach the course.

“I had to answer a whole bunch of questions for these people to evaluate me, to find me worthy of teaching,” she said.

“After I did that, I was essentially eligible to teach.”

The first hurdle her students will have to overcome is learning the basic “bent knee” or “half-sitting” position, in which the feet are held slightly apart, the toes are turned out 180 degrees, and the knees are bent outward.

“You have to be able to maintain that position for the whole of a dance,” Bharadvaj said. “If the dance is 15 minutes long, you have to be able to maintain that position for 15 minutes.

“Even those who are athletic find it difficult because the amount of energy and power required of the calf muscles and thighs are totally different. It takes a different kind of muscle action. They may be able to take the position, but to sustain it and dance in it is something of a challenge.

“Of course, this is not the only position we dance in,” she added. “We have leaping positions and jumping positions. Geometrical patterns are formed. You always have symmetry of the arms and hands. It always looks as if there is a central position, with the arms bursting out from the side like rays of the sun. You can almost compare it to that.”

The position is basic to the dance form, she said, because “it allows forceful use of the feet. From this position, footwork can be emphasized greatly, and footwork is extremely important. You get the most power from this position.”

By the end of the summer class, Bharadvaj expects her students to have learned “some of the basic techniques, like use of the heels, toes and some of the flat-footed movements” as well as commonly used gestures. They should also be able to put together some simple combinations, she said.

“But I really want them to use the dance to enhance their own styles, not just to learn Indian dance. For example, say they are portraying something fierce, then there are movements we use that just by facial expression or sudden postures, carrying of the body, can project the fierceness without the help of music, lyrics or dialogue. . . .

“Also, the varied techniques of gestures are so indicative of an idea. The moment you look at it, you know what we’re doing.”

Bharadvaj herself will be attempting to blend Eastern and Western dance styles in a collaboration with Ballet Montmartre, the performing group of the Newport Ballet Academy, in a concert at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa on Aug. 16.

“I’m looking forward to that,” she said. “I’ll make my students from the college go see that production for inspiration, to see that what they are learning is not something disconnected from actual possibilities to enhance their dancing.”

* Ramaa Bharadvaj will teach a workshop in Bharata Natyam technique beginning Friday and continuing each week through Aug. 7, from 6:15 to 8:15 p.m. in the Dance Studio at Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Enrollment fee: $3.50. Information: (714) 432-5506.

SEAL BEACH FESTIVAL: The 18th annual Seal Beach Chamber Music Festival will open on June 25 with a program of music by Haydn and Dvorak played by the Ysaye String Quartet.

The series continues:

* July 2: Members of the Southwest Chamber Music Society in works by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. The concert is a memorial to pianist Albert Dominguez, a founding member of the society, who died in March.

* July 9: John Jensen, piano: Bach’s Partita No. 2, Beethoven’s “Tempest” Sonata, Paul Reale’s “Sonata Brahmsiana”, Jensen’s jazz improvisations.

* July 16: Alan Parker, cello; Jensen, piano: Brahms’ Sonata in E minor; Hindemith’s Sonata, Opus 11, No. 3; Boccherini’s Sonata in C.

* July 23: Mark Sullivan, piano: Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32, Ravel’s Sonatine and “Jeux d’Eau”; Chopin’s Nocturne in D-flat, Opus 27, No. 2, and Ballade in F minor.

* July 30: Young Artists’ Guild concert: artists and program to be announced.

* Aug. 6: Max Levinson, piano: Schubert’s Sonata in G; Schoenberg’s Three Pieces, Opus 11; Bach’s “French Suite” in G; Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit.”

* Aug. 13: Trio to be announced.

All programs start at 8 p.m. in the McGaugh School Auditorium, 1698 Bolsa Ave., Seal Beach. Admission is free. Information: (310) 431-0950.