Expression
The raison d'être of Indian dance is expression. The body seems turned into a life-size puppet. All is alive but highly codified at the same time. This is to make the dancer look transformed. And he not only looks transformed but also does become intimately altered. Expression is all the stronger when his body can use only a restricted set of gestures instead of the usual everyday movements. All gestures have a symbolic weight and can have a precise meaning. Expression is in the arms, in the legs, hands, every part of the body, from toes to head. Costume and decoration also take part in the expression.
The dancer's center of expression is his face. It is like a concentrate of all the dance's expression. As regards expression, the whole body can also be considered as the extension of the face. The dancer's face is subdivided into parts, each controlled independently. There are many possible movement combinations on the face because it has many parts and many muscles. In everyday life, the face is important for expressions. Here, all the movements and their combinations are extremely codified. Like for the body, this makes the face's expression more powerful. The face seems turned into a mobile mask. Facial movements and expressions take an important part in the dancer's training.
The face's center of expression are the eyes. The expression's essence resides in the dancer's eyes. They are the last touch without which the dance would be lifeless, meaningless. Like the necklace's gem, the candle's flame, or the tree's flowers, they give that special brightness to the dance. It is a supernatural brightness showing that the dancer is possessed by his character. The sole eyes of a true dancer tell everything : gestures, rhythm, expressions, story. They reflect the whole dance. Body and eyes are the outer and inner manifestations of the same expression. Both have to match each other for the dance to be coherent. Without the eyes, the dance would be uninteresting. This expressiveness in the eyes makes Indian dance look Indian. Also in Indian sculpture and painting, the eyes of the represented figure are the last part to be painted. The statue or painting gets alive when the eyes are opened at the end, and can then receive the descending deity. It is like the gong stroke concluding a musical phrase. Like such visited statue, the dancer becomes a puppet operated by the character.
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