Even Shiva has Knee Problems

The first piece of my second half, a kriti I think (but don't quote me) called Kalmari Adiya, is not my favourite piece. Don't let that discourage you from coming to my show - it's quite fun to watch. As a dancer, though, it is one of the most demanding pieces for balance and strength because it's about Shiva and full of his poses. Shiva: the God of destruction, original Lord of the dance, and a bit of a pothead[1]. He's also father of Ganesha and Muruga, and husband of Parvati, and sancho (Hola Oscar!) of Ganga.

Complete with fire, drum, snakes, moon, and crushed dwarf

Shiva is one of the oldest deities and is arguably a composition of a bunch of earlier deities that were unified into one[2]. I have a friend who argues that Shiva could be a woman, and it's common to see Shiva portrayed as a hybrid with his consort, Parvati. In fact, the second charanum* of Kalmari, I'll alternate between Shiva and Parvati.

Shiva + Parvati

Shiva is an essential part of Bharatanatyam. At the beginning of every performance, we do a bow to the Nataraja, which is the dancing depiction of Shiva. Shiva also has some of the most striking (and I think best) poses in dance. However, they're pretty challenging, especially when you're tired and you need to hold them for a good 10 seconds or so.

A standard Nataraja as performed in the British Museum

The difficulty of Shiva's dancing poses inspires itself. I guess it's a metapiece. The Pandya king, one of the ancient rulers of Tamil Nadu (then known as 'Pandya Nadu', naturally) was so distraught at seeing Lord Shiva constantly dancing on his right leg that he begged Shiva to switch legs and dance on his left. The Pandyan King, in a typically measured Bollywood response, threatens to kill himself if Shiva does not oblige. Shiva does not disappoint, and kindly switches legs to avoid any potential mass suicides.

Hooray!

Alas, the switching of legs does little for the performer, since you just end up doing most the poses on your left leg, which then becomes sore. However, I would request that the audience refrain from threats of suicide. Instead, please cheer louder for me. I feel that, culturally, obnoxious crowd support is one of the few advantages I have going for me.

As a side note, Susmitha Bhat did a fantastic rendition of this piece in her incredibly awesome arangetram last Saturday in Alabama. My insightful boyfriend, who was watching her performance as well, noted that all of the drama could have been avoided had Lord Shiva had access to foam rollers and a good sports masseuse. I think it's unlikely I'll be including those in my rendition, though.

 *I think it's like a verse, but my Guru gets mad when I project Western musical concepts onto Carnatic musical structure