Nattuvangam: The Conductor of a Bharatanatyam Performance

Nattuvangam is the art of conducting a Bharatanatyam performance. The nattuvanar, usually the dancer's guru, plays a pair of small cymbals to mark the footwork and recites the rhythmic syllables of the jathis, holding dancer and musicians together. Traditionally the nattuvanar was also the teacher and choreographer, so nattuvangam sits at the heart of the art.

What does the word mean?

Nattuvangam comes from the same root as nattuvanar, the dance master. The nattuvanar trains the dancer, composes or arranges the choreography, and on stage sits with the orchestra to conduct. When people speak of someone "doing nattuvangam" for a recital, they mean that person is leading the performance from the orchestra.

The cymbals (talam)

The nattuvanar plays a pair of small, thick metal cymbals, often simply called talam. The two are struck together, and by varying how they meet and how quickly the sound is stopped, the nattuvanar produces ringing and crisper strokes that match the dancer's foot strikes and mark the beat.

The cymbals do not simply keep time like a metronome. During pure-dance passages they follow the pattern of the footwork itself, so that the audience hears the rhythm doubled by the dancer's feet and the nattuvanar's hands. During abhinaya passages they are used more sparingly, often marking only the tala.

Reciting jathis and sollukattu

The second half of nattuvangam is the voice. Jathis are rhythmic passages built from sollukattu, spoken syllables such as "tai ya tai hi" or "ta ka dhi mi". The nattuvanar recites them aloud during performance, with precise timing and clear diction, while the dancer executes the corresponding adavus. A well-recited jathi lifts the energy of the whole stage. It must end exactly on the beat, usually with a tirmanam, a closing pattern repeated three times.

Reciting a long jathi while playing cymbals and watching the dancer, all in tala, takes years of training. Our article on music and rhythm in Bharatanatyam explains the talas and kalams involved.

The nattuvanar's role

In training

• Teaching adavus. In class the teacher marks time with a wooden stick (thattukazhi) on a block, or with the cymbals, and recites the sollukattu for each adavu.
• Composing and setting jathis. Many nattuvanars compose jathis and fit them into the music of a varnam, jathiswaram or thillana.
• Choreography. The nattuvanar decides how the lyric will be interpreted in abhinaya and how the rhythmic sections will be danced.
• Rehearsing the orchestra. Before a performance the nattuvanar rehearses with the vocalist, mridangist and other musicians so that everyone knows the arrangement.

On stage

• Sets and holds the tempo for the ensemble.
• Marks the footwork on the cymbals and recites the jathis.
• Gives cues to the musicians for changes in speed, repetitions and endings.
• Watches the dancer closely, adjusting if something unexpected happens.

In this sense the nattuvanar is the conductor: the musicians follow the nattuvanar, and the nattuvanar follows and supports the dancer.

Historical nattuvanars and the Tanjore Quartet

For much of its history, the art of the nattuvanar was passed down within hereditary families of dance masters and musicians, who taught the devadasi dancers of the Sadir tradition in temples and courts. The most famous of these are the Tanjore Quartet, the brothers Chinnaiah, Ponnaiah, Sivanandam and Vadivelu, who worked at the court of Serfoji II of Thanjavur in the early nineteenth century. They systematised the margam, the order of items in a recital, and composed many pieces still danced today. You can read more in The History and Evolution of Bharatanatyam and in our guide to the Bharatanatyam margam.

In the twentieth century, nattuvanars such as Meenakshisundaram Pillai of Pandanallur trained many of the dancers who carried Bharatanatyam through its revival. The Pandanallur style takes its name from his village in the Thanjavur region, and its precise lines and deep araimandi reflect that training. See Understanding the Pandanallur Style.

Women nattuvanars today

The role was once held almost entirely by men. That has changed. As Bharatanatyam moved into dance schools and institutions during and after the revival, many women dancers trained in nattuvangam, and today it is common to see a woman guru conducting her students' performances. For students, seeing their own teacher at the cymbals during an arangetram is part of what makes the occasion meaningful.

Nattuvangam in our lineage

Mayura Natyalaya's teachers, the twin sisters Smt. Aishwarya and Smt. Soundharya, are disciples of Guru Kalaimamani Smt. Charulatha Jayaraman, founder and Artistic Director of the Shrishti School of Performing Arts in Orange County, California, and an exponent of nattuvangam. She is herself a disciple of Guru Smt. Indira Rajan, a Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee. You can read about the teachers on our About page.

What students learn from nattuvangam

1. Rhythmic independence. Reciting sollukattu while keeping tala on the hand trains students to hold the beat on their own.
2. Listening. Dancers learn to hear the cymbals and the mridangam as cues, not background.
3. Understanding the structure of a jathi. Once you can recite a jathi, you understand where its phrases begin and end, and your dancing becomes cleaner.
4. Trust in performance. On stage the dancer relies on the nattuvanar's tempo and cues. Building that trust in rehearsal is an important part of preparing for an arangetram.
5. A path to teaching. Advanced students who hope to teach one day often begin learning nattuvangam themselves.

For students approaching their debut, our arangetram preparation page describes the Advanced and Arangetram preparation classes.