CONCLUSION
It is said that, face becomes mirror of our thoughts, more than voice or
even words, nonverbal communication defines, what is on another person’s
mind just through our facial expression.
There are an infinite number of facial expressions.
We sometimes see scientific studies saying that there are eight to nine
varieties of facial expression. A scientific research has mentioned facial
expressions happen instant. In fact they occur faster than your brain can
react, and can express feelings we may later want to hide. Expression is
some thing that shows what you do or what you feel within.
Any given idea to the artist is conceptualized in the mind and that
makes abhinaya not only the most difficult part of dancing , but also a
method by which the dancer comes closer to their audience so that he/she
can express the thought properly. Each rasa is based on the response of the
audience.
Audiences are not receiving the dance in a passive way. They have to
go on the same journey in order to experience rasa during the dance recital,
using Navarasa Abhinaya, emotion is not the expression of feelings rather it
is the feeling that begets those expression on face.
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Taken from Google image internet115
All human being are programmed with emotions by birth, as said by
Newton, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In the same way
any form of expression expressed by us in the society is related to our moods
i.e. can be called as navarasa abhinaya being used in our day - to - day life
unconsciously.
But classical dance is a kind of a transaction which, in a joyous way,
brings people face to face with their inner being. In NatyaShastra, Bharata
explains how the performer and the audience can reach a state of enjoyment.
During the process the audience may cry, laugh, feel hurt, get angry etc, but
they finally reach a stage where they feel contented and cherish the entire
journey most of the times.
Navarasa Abhinaya Pictures -Taken from Google image internet.
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When I thought about this concept of audience reaction towards
abhinaya. I assumed that female respondents will get all rasa or identify all
rasa correctly, this was due to some evidence heard, read and even seen.
“Fischer proposed that stereotypes about individual emotions are
gender-specific. The emotions of happiness, sadness and fear are believed to
be more characteristic of women, whereas anger has been found to be more
characteristic of men”.116
Another statement says “numerous studies have shown males to be
characteristically different from females, in their emotional expression”117
It is a common belief that men and women treat their emotions in
different ways, though emotions mean different things to different people.
Since men and women generally react emotionally differently under
differing circumstances. Some believe gender does not matter in expressing
emotions emotion. It is dependent on mental condition of a human being.
Even before the analysis was conducted, I too was in this illusion that
the third age group of people i.e. respondents aged between 45-60, may
identify the rasa correctly based on their experience. But the data and the
“6. Birnbaum, Nosanchuk & Croll, 1980; Briton & Hall, 1995; Fabes & Martin, 1991;
Grossman & Wood, 1993; Kelly & Hutson-Comeaux, 1999.
"7. Emotional Processing & Gender Emotional Expression In Men And Women-Wood, 1997;
Brody & Hall, 1993; MacGeorge, 2003.
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results surprised me. After examination of the data and the results a clear and
new facts we obtained.
Sringara Rasa is identified on the basis of entire facial expression
Here in this graph, it can be seen that overall identification of Sringara
Rasa based on different category by taking the entire age group. Among the
60 respondents, exactly half i.e. 30 of them have identified the rasa correctly.
Table shows over all Identification of Sringara Rasa Identified
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18 - 60
SI. No. i Based On Male Female
1. Eye 7 8
2. Face 15 15
3. Lips 1 3
4. Makeup 7 3
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Graph shows over all Identification of Sringara Rasa Identified
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18 - 60
Hasya Rasa is identified on the basis of lips expression
Here in this graph, it can seen that overall identification of Hasya Rasa
based different category by taking the entire age group. Among the 60
respondents only 13 of them have identified the rasa correctly.
Table shows over all Identification of Hasya Rasa Identified
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18-60
SI. No. Based On Male Female
1. Eye 0 1
2. Face 16 19
3. Lips 7 6
4. Makeup 7 4
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Graph shows over all Identification of Hasya Rasa Identified
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18-60
■ Male 0 16 7 7
■ Female 1 19 6 4
Identification of Rasa
Raudra Rasa is identified on the basis of eye expression
Here in this graph, it can be seen that overall identification of Raudra
Rasa based on different category by taking the entire age group. Among the
60 respondents only 20 of them have identified the rasa correctly.
Table shows over all Identification of Roudra Rasa Identified
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18 - 60
SI. No. Based On Male Female
1. Eye 8 12
i
2. Face 13 12
3. i Lips 1 1
4. ; Makeup 8 5
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Graph shows over all Identification of Roudra Rasa Identifiers
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18 - 60
■ Female 12 12 15
identification of Rasa
Veera Rasa is identified on the basis of eye expression
Here in this graph, it can be seen that overall identification of Veera
Rasa based on different category by taking the entire age group. Among the
60 respondents only 18 of them have identified the rasa correctly.
Table shows over all Identification of Veera Rasa Identified
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18 - 60
SI. No. j Based On Male Female
1. ; Eye 8 11
2, ; Face 15 15
|
3. ! Lips 0 0
i
4. ; Makeup 7 4
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Graph shows over all Identification of Veera Rasa Identifiers
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18 - 60
Eye Face Ups Makeup I
■ Male
■ Female 11
8 15
15
0
0
7
4
|
. . _J
Identification of Rasa
Karuna Rasa is identified on the basis of eye expression
Here in this graph, it can be seen that overall identification of Sringara
Rasa based different category by taking the entire age group. Among the 60
respondents, less then half i.e. only 8 of them have identified the rasa
correctly.
Table shows over all Identification of Karuna Rasa Identified
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18 - 60
SI. No. Based On Male Female
j
1. | Eye 4 4
|
2. ! Face 18 21
3. ! Lips 2 3
j
4, ! Makeup 6 4
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ i_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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Graph shows over all Identification of Karuna Rasa Identifiers
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18 - 60
■ Female 4 21 3 4 !
Identification of Rasa
Bhayanaka Rasa is identified on the entire facial expression
Here in this graph, it can be seen that overall identification of
Bhayanaka Rasa based on different category by taking the entire age group.
Among the60 respondents, less then half i.e. 22 of them have identified the
rasa correctly
Table shows over all Identification of Bhayanaka Rasa Identified
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18-60
SI. No. Based On Male Female
1. Eye 11 11
2. Face 10 12
3. Lips 1 2
4. Makeup 8 5
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Graph shows over all Identification of Bhayanaka Rasa Identified
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18 - 60
Beebhatsa Rasa is identified on the entire facial expression
Here in this graph, it can be seen overall identification of Beebhatsa
Rasa based on different category by taking the entire age group. Among the
60 respondents, only 26 of them have identified the rasa correctly.
Table shows over all Identification of Beebhatsa Rasa Identified
Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group 18 - 60
SI. No. j Based On Male Female
i
1. | Eye 10 4
2. j Face 10 16
)
3. j Lips 3 4
j
4. : Makeup 7 6
!
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Graph shows over all Identification of Beebhatsa Rasa Identified
by Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group of 18-60
■ Male 10 10 3 7
■ Female 4 16 4 6
Identification of Rasa
Adbhuta Rasa is identified on the basis of eye expression
Here in this graph, it can be seen that overall identification of Adbhuta
Rasa based on different category by taking the entire age group. Among the
60 respondents, only 8 of them have identified the rasa correctly.
Table shows over all Identification of Adbhuta Rasa Identified
by Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group of 18 - 60
SI. No. i
i
Based On Male Female
|
1. s
1
Eye 4 4
2. 1j Face 19 15
3. | Lips 0 3
4. Makeup 7 1
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Graph shows over all Identification of Adbhuta Rasa Identified
by Male >30 and Female - 30
Age Group of 18 - 60
■ Male 4 19 0 7
■ Female 4 15 3 1
Identification of Rasa
Shanta Rasa is identified on the basis of entire face expression
Here in this graph, it can be seen that overall identification of Sringara
Rasa based on different category by taking the entire age group. Among the
60 respondents exactly 40 of them have identified the rasa correctly
Table shows overall Identification of Shanta Rasa Identified
by Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group of 18 - 60
SI. No. Based On Male Female
1. : Eye 4 8
2. Face 21 19
3. ; Lips 0 0
4. Makeup 5 3
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Graph shows over all Identification of Shanta Rasa Identified
by Male -30 and Female - 30
Age Group of 18 - 60
Over all, among the navarasa’s only Shanta rasa has been identified by
40 maximum number of respondents. Sringara rasa has been identified by 30
respondents, the least identified rasa are Karuna and Adbhuta. Only 8
respondents have identified. Rest rasas take the place in between these rasas.
They are identified to a little extent as Bhayanak, Bhibatsa, Veera Raudra,
Hasya.
This clearly states that even though people are interested in
performing arts especially classical dance, I feel people go to get
entertainment and only few of them understand and the expression because
they may not be deeply interested in grasping the exact rasa. Audiences
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mostly misunderstand one rasa with the other for example - veera and
Raudra are misinterpreted, in the same way hasya and abhutha, bhibatsa and
bhayanak rasas too.
Even though audience feels they understand facial expression
portrayed by the dancer during a performance, even then they fail to get the
exact rasa being shown and just guess them based on the theme.
Just to get the exact idea a concert was organized to collect data with
regard to audience interpretation towards classical dance performance and
what do they look for in it.
Interpretation Taken From 30 Respondents in Live
Dance Concert
Using Some Questionnaire -
1) Do You Visit Any Classical Dance Performance?
2) Which form of dance do you prefer?
3) What do you look in each performance?
4) What do you expect from the artist?
Based on the collected data from the audience in a live classical dance
concert, the following results were collected- data has been collected from
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respondents healing from Kochin, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi, Nagpur, Udupi,
Bombay Dharwad, Bangalore, Madras,
97% of public prefer visiting a classical dance concert.
63% of public mostly visit bharathanatya when compared to other forms.
33% look for expressions, 23% look whether cultural aspect is being
portrayed, 17% look for representation of historical events, 13% look for
entertainment, and 7% are interested in theme and costume.
40% of the audience expects the dancer to portray facial expression,
27% pay more attention to music during a concert, 20% look for rhythm in
each performance, and only 13 % among audience expect the dancers to
communicate with them during the performance.
After these results a clear picture is got that more attention is being
paid towards facial expression during a classical dance performance.
The analysis of the data is shown by using pie chart:
Pie -chart Shows Interpretation Taken from 30 Respondents
Live Concert
Do you visit any classical dance performance?
No, 1, 3%
Yes, 29, 97%
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Which form of dance?
None, 5,17%
Bharathanatya/
Kathakali, 2,
Khatakaii, 4, Bharathanatya,
13% 19, 63%
What do you look in each performance?
Constume, 2,
7% Expression, 10,
Theme, 2, 7%
33%
Culture, 7, 23%
History, 5, 17%
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What do you expect from the artist?
Communication
with Audience,
Dance on 4, 13%
rhythm, 6, 20%
Music, 8, 27%
Pie -chart Shows Interpretation Taken from 8
Uneducated Respondents
Shanta rasa, Sringara rasa ,
8, 14% 5, 9%
Hasya rasa ,
Adbhuta rasa 8, 14%
5, 9%
Roudra rasa,
Beebhatsa 6, 11%
rasa, 3, 5%
Bhayanaka Veera rasa,
rasa, 7, 13% Karuna rasa, 6, 11%
8, 14%
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As shown in the above pie chart even among the uneducated
respondents Shanta, Karuna and Hasya these rasas have been identified by
maximum number of people, next Bhayanaka rasa has been identified,
Beebatsa rasa has been identified by least number of informants. Raudra
,Veera, Shringara rasa comes in between these rasa . It is clearly seen that
education, age , gender has no role to play in identification of non - verbal
expression (Navarasa).
Pie -chart Shows Interpretation Taken from 10
Respondents - House wives
Shanta rasa, Sringara rasa ,
10,12% ' 10,11%
Hasya rasa,
Adbhuta rasa, 10,12%
10,12%
Roudra rasa,
Beebhatsa 8 , 9%
rasa, 10,12%
Veera rasa,
7,8%
Bhayanaka Karuna rasa,
rasa, 10,12%
10,12%
Similarly data had been collected by housewives from different places
- Dharwad, Udupi, Bombay, Pune, Kochin and Delhi .Results obtained is
shown in the pie chart above. Most of the house wives have identified the
rasas correctly ,reason behind correct identification of rasa is due to their
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daughters, granddaughters who learn classical dance, even some housewives
have learned classical dance in their childhood ,but due to some external
factors have stopped performing. Results took me as a surprise that most of
them are educated, but still lack the interest in perceiving the art form and
enrich their interest in this ancient performing art Bharathanatya.
I still doubt whether it is a fault with the dancers or with the audience,
since common men identify emotion in day to day life, when compared them
to identify these same emotions in a dance performance.
This leads us to think is it just due to lack of interest lack of
involvement in the field of performing arts or our less exposure towards our
cultural root due to globalization.
Life without expression is just impossible to think. Since these
exchanges of emotions or gestures in form of expression define our social
relationship in the society. Each expression is taught to us, so that we know
what expressions are appropriate and when to be used.
Navarasa the art of expression is neither culture specific nor style
specific. Human feelings are universal. People grow in different kinds of
cultures but they do not have different sets of emotions, love, hate, anger,
compassion, disgust, sorrow etc.
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Anybody can identify themselves with each emotion. All of us are
connected to each other with the common thread of human emotions inspite
of gender differences.
There is lot more scope for analysis using different variety of abhinaya
and relating it to the society. Here in this thesis I have just made an attempt
to elicitate the relationship between expression, sign language and society
which walk in hand to hand in our society, and their relation with the art
form Bharathanatya.
Scope for Further Research
Given the findings and the limitations of the present study, scope can
be given to conduct further research of the other forms of abhinaya in
practical and all four other forms together to find out its response in the
society.
1 - The study can be conducted on dancers and dance teachers to find
out their response on abhinaya.
2 - Individual differences among students and teachers can be seen
based on their influence, due to learning styles, cultural background. If so
how such variables change the interpretation.
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3 - Using certain variables as age, gender, caste, cultural background,
motivation, lifestyle, education, exposure major difference can be found in
the interpretation.
4 - Being an outsider- (a non - dancer) just to have a check do these
external factors affect in understanding Abhinaya in any performance can be
studied.
4.1. It may be a vertical move (without moving out of a particular
society).
4.2. Horizontal move - (from one society to another)
House wife’s, students opt for abroad education, work oriented shift
4.3. Diagonal - Individual different circumstance childhood in one
background to adult hood lifestyle change, post marriage, pre marriage.
Through this, a completely different response can be gathered since
Abhinaya is an excellent example for a good communication.
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