Hastaabhinaya – expressing through your hands

Classical dance is a language that has the power to express your deepest emotions. When we learn a language from scratch, where do we begin? When you read, you begin with A-B-C; when you sing you begin with Do Re Mi … The alphabet of dance consists of mudras or patterns formed with your hands. With four fingers and a thumb, the number of mudras we can form is extensive. Codified by the Natya Shastra, a treatise on dramaturgy, mudras form the base of Indian classical dance.

What makes a mudra beautiful? What can we express with our hands? Who sets down these rules? How can I understand something I see? Expression through our hands – Hastaabhinaya. At “Abhinaya”, our dance workshop at The Cultural Centre.