Using Newton’s Laws to Determine the Quality of Bharatanatyam Dance Movements

Authors

  • Sidhya Ganesh University of Washington
  • Professor Ramachandran University of Washington

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i3.3672

Keywords:

Newton's Laws, Kinematics, Statics, Dynamics, Dance, Bharatanatyam, Nritta, Movement Quality, Physics & Dance, What makes a 'Good' Bharatanatyam dancer?

Abstract

Bharatanatyam, an ancient Indian Classical dance form, places a heavy emphasis on dancers’ body positioning and usage of space, categorizing movements as ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ qualitatively. The present experiment investigated the extent to which statics/kinematics can be used to evaluate the quality of a Bharatanatyam dance movement. The declared hypothesis was that the dancer’s body could be approximated as a rigid body/simple object, for analysis. Two Bharatanatyam movements, a one-dimensional jump, and a two-dimensional parabolic leap were each performed in a ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ manner, recorded with calibration sticks in the background, and analyzed using Tracker. Inconsistencies within acceleration due to gravity values disproved the hypothesis. However, kinematics/statics comparisons between ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ versions of both movements resulted in the following quantitative takeaways. In the one-dimensional movement, the ‘Good’ movement had a longer duration of free fall, a higher maximum vertical height, and a smaller horizontal displacement than the ‘Bad’ movement. The force exerted by the floor on the dancer was around 100 times the dancer’s body mass in the ‘Good’ movement vs. only 72 times in the ‘Bad’ movement. In the two-dimensional ‘Good’ movement, the dancer vertically jumped 2.15% of their body height and horizontally jumped 16% of their body height. In the ‘Bad’ movement, the same values were 0.895% and 21%. Calculating torque during launch revealed that the launch leg in the ‘Good’ movement was closer to  than in the ‘Bad’ movement. The ratio of horizontal to vertical displacement was also 3 times lower for the ‘Good’ movement.

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Author Biography

Professor Ramachandran, University of Washington

Advisor

References or Bibliography

Áragón-Vargas, L. F., & Gross, M. M. (1997). Kinesiological Factors in Vertical Jump Performance: Differences Within individuals. Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 13(1), 45–65. https://doi.org/10.1123/jab.13.1.45

Bharatanatyam | Natyom. (n.d.). Natyom.com. Retrieved August 30, 2022, from https://natyom.com/bharatanatyam/#:~:text=Bharatanatyam%20originated%20over%202%2C000%20years%20ago%20in%20Southern

InsightsIAS. (2018, October 23). Explain The Difference Between Natya, Nritya & Nritta | IAS Coaching. INSIGHTSIAS. https://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/10/23/3-explain-with-the-help-of-examples-the-difference-between-natya-nritya-and-nritta250-words/#:~:text=Natya%20%E2%80%93%20Natya%20corresponds%20to%20drama.%20Natya%20means

Waghmare, P. (2022, June 15). Bharatanatyam-Features and Styles for UPSC Art and Culture Notes. Testbook IAS Preparation. https://testbook.com/ias-preparation/bharatanatyam-features-and-style

Published

08-31-2022

How to Cite

Ganesh, S., & Ramachandran, S. (2022). Using Newton’s Laws to Determine the Quality of Bharatanatyam Dance Movements. Journal of Student Research, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i3.3672

Issue

Section

HS Research Articles