Margam

In sanskrit, the word  Margam means “path.” In Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi, the Margam is a repertoire of several dance items that are learned and presented in a particular order. The traditional Margam consists of several dance items including the Pushpanjali, Allaripu (for Bharatanatyam), Jathiswaram, Varnam (for Bharatanatyam), Tarangam (for Kuchipudi), multiple Keerthanams and Shabdams, the Thillana, and the Mangalam.

In the Pushpanjali, the dancer offers flowers to Lord Nataraja, the god of dance, and seeks the blessings of the audience for a successful performance. The dancer then warms up the body and the limbs in the Allaripu, before continuing onto the Jathiswaram, a purely technical piece emphasizing “Nritya” or pure dance. The performance then continues into the Varnam, the longest and most challenging piece of Bharatanatyam repertoire where the dancer must strike a balance between nritya and abhinaya (story telling). In Kuchipudi margams, the dancer performs a tarangam in place of a varnam, using abhinaya to reenact several episodes from the Hindu epics, and finally concluding the item by performing complex footwork on the rim of a brass plate. Following the Varnam or Tarangam, the dancer performs shabdams or keerthanams, which are expressive pieces describing the attributes of a deity. Finally, the margam concludes with the thillana, a fast-paced item with complex footwork and movements, and the mangalam, where the dancer thanks the Lord and the audience for a successful performance.