Banis in Bharatanatyam
Bani basically means lineage, what’s been passed down through parampara. A lot of people get confused between bani and style and some even says that bani is style but in fact, bani and style are two different entities. There could be many different styles within a bani itself, because there are some people strictly stick to or copy their gurus’ style without any modifications, but many gurus and/or students these days modify or put their own spices to the bani that’s taught to them as what looks on one person might not look good on another, there isn’t anything wrong to this per se, but the bani is diluted in this case. Thanjavur is the birth place to all the banis today and today we have 4 major banis. They are:
Pandanallur
Vazhuvur
Melattur
Thanjavur
Now you might ask the question, what about Kalakshetra or Mysore? Kalakshetra is basically the modified version of Pandanallur style, Rukmini Devi Arundale studied Panadallur style, her guru was Meenakshisundaram Pillai. Long story short,
“Rukmini met famed ballerina, Anna Pavlova, at Covent Gardens, London. Pavlova introduced Rukmini Devi to ballet and had her disciple, Cleo Nordi, give the young woman lessons while on board the ship.”
Source from Kalakshetra foundation
It is her training in ballet that had make her modify the original pandanallur style to make the lines more linear and geometric, and she created Kalakshetra style.
Salient features of Kalakshetra style are linear and geometric movements, minimal lasya and absence of rechakas, and less importance to overly sringara-based items. The movements are stiff and controlled.
Here are some examples of how Kalakshetra style execute some of the adavus:
Mysore style
Later on, in the erstwhile state of Mysore came a resurgence of all art forms under the Wodeyar Dynasty. It became a great seat of learning and patronage to all kinds of art and artistes. Bharatanatyam in Karnataka reached its peak during this period. Kanteerava Wodeyar organised a Bharatanatyam school in Srirangapatna while Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar wrote two dance dramas, Geeta Gopala and Saptopadki.
During Krishnaraja Wodeyar's reign (1811-1868) a distinct style began to emerge which is now known as 'Mysore Style'. Krishna Raja Wodeyar, the scholar-patron of the arts, was a contemporary of the Great Trinity of Carnatic Music - Muthuswami Dikshitar, Shama Shastri, and Thyagaraja - and also of the Tanjore Quartet consisting of the four brothers - Chinayya, Ponnayya, Shivanandan, and Vadivelu - who gave a Marga (format) to the Bharatanatyam solo recital.Source from narthaki.com
The Mysore style of Bharatanatyam has its own charm. The nuances of any style are in its presentation and teaching methodology. Mysore shyli Bharatanatya focuses on the lyrical and expressive aspects of dance versus angular movements.
Jetti Tayamma (1857-1947) is the pioneer of the Mysore shyli Bharatanatya. A dancer, choreographer and teacher, she was very well respected for her dance and scholarship. She trained in dance, music and literature under teachers such as Subbarayappa, Kaveeshwara Giriyappa, Chandrashekara Shastri and Basavappa Shastri. She was appointed as an Aastana Vidushi (Palace Dancer) in the Mysore palace at the age of fifteen. She resigned from the palace after a few months, began performing at different religious and social occasions, and teaching dance. Based on her versatile training, Jetti Tayamma created her own style of Bharatanatya that is now known as the Mysore shyli Bharatanatya. Lalitha Srinivasan, a senior dance teacher in the Mysore style Bharatanatyam says: “The Pandanallore shyli is defined by strong lines, the Mysore shyli is flowery. The Bharatanatya in this area [Mysore or Karnataka] is clearly different.”
Source from navarasa
Thanjavur Bani
This style of dance is like a flow of music – relaxed. It is possible to accomplish the adavus at a moderate pace or tempo, including complete body swing with curves, which brings out the actual beauty of this style. Adavus were composed in madhyama kala.
Some distinguishable characteristics can be seen in how they execute the prekhanna position by going all the way down to the floor. Here Kalaimamani Smt. Sasirekha Balasubramanian is explaining how some of the adavus are executed in Thanjavur style:
Here is a documentary on Thajavur bani:
Here is an article on Thanjavur Quartet by the government of India:
Brief History of Tanjavur Quartet
Padanallur Bani
It is mainly attributed to Dance Guru Meenakshi sundaram Pillai (1869–1964), a dance guru who lived in the village of Pandanallur, in the Thanjavur district in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Meenakshisundaram Pillai, whose ancestors were nattuvanars, was a descendant from the Thanjavur Quartet, which comprised four brothers: Chinnaiah, Ponniah, Sivanandam and Vadivel. The works of these four brothers, who were court composers in the early 19th century in Thanjavur, form the main classical masterpieces of Bharata Natyam.
Baroda Guru Kubernath Tanjorkar (1916 - 2007), a disciple of Pillai, later established Tanjor Dance Music & Art Research Centre in Baroda, Gujarat. Thiruvallaputhur Swaminatha Pillai, also known as T.K.Swaminatha Pillai, was one of the leading disciples of Pillai. He learned Bharathanatiyam under the Gurukula of Pillai for more than ten years. He also mentored Ram Gopal, who became one of the pioneers of Indian dance in the west.
Pillai was said to have been trained by his uncle, Kumarasamy Nattuvanar. He trained several famous Bharata Natyam dancers, including Devadasis such as Pandanallur Jayalakshmi, Thangachi Ammal, Sabaranjitam, as well as people from other castes such as Mrinalini Sarabhai, Rukmini Devi, Tara Chaudhri.
After Pillai, his son-in-law Chokkalingam Pillai (1893–1968) became the doyen Guru of the Pandanallur style. His leading dancer-student was Mambalam Geetha. He trained other leading dancers such as G. Kausalya, Sucharita, and Indrani Rehman. He shifted to Madras and propagated his dance throughout the region.
Subbaraya Pillai (1914–2008), Chokkalingam Pillai's son, was the next leading Guru of the Pandanallur style. He grew up in the village of Pandanallur and was an apprentice under his grandfather and father. He trained leading dancers such as Alarmel Valli and Meenakshi Chitharanjan. His granddaughter Vanitha Rajasekar teaches dance in Valasaravakkam, Chennai-87 and other regions of Tamil Nadu.
The Pandanallur style developed a reputation for the emphasis on linear geometry that can be found in the adavu technique, and for its intensity and understatement in abhinaya.
Source from wikipedia
You can read up more on padanallur lineage here
Vazhuvoor Bani
The Vazhuvoor Tradition of Bharatanatyam came to the fore with Natyacharya Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai and his star pupil Kamala Lakshmi Narayanan in the nineteen forties. The Vazhuvoor bani (style) is renowned for grace and fluidity of movement and subtlety of abhinaya. Adhering to tradition, Ramiah Pillai was a pioneer in setting a new trend in presenting Bharatanatyam to audiences urban and rural, away from the temple and court. The appeal of his bani as seen in his disciples inspired thousands of young girls to learn the art.
Read up more on vazhuvoor bani here.
Melattur Bani
The Melattur style of Bharatanatyam dance was developed largely out of the devadasi traditions and Melattur Bhagavata Mela by Mangudi Dorairaja Iyer (1900–1980), a sanyasi following Srividya Upasana.
Harinie Jeevitha - A Bharatanatyam dancer of the Melattur style
He re-established the Suddha Nrittam from kuchipudi, Bhattasa Natyam and Perani Natyam (dance on the clay pot). Mangudi became interested in Shuddha Nrittam after watching a performance by devadasi of Cheyyur Sengalvarayar temple, who performed it along with other 71 types of items (e.g. Kavita, Nritta, Vadya, Sangeeta and others).
Source from wikipedia
From the traces of History, after the battle of Tallikota in 1565 A.D., the Vijayanagara Empire declined. The Kuchipudi art form too, which was patronised by the Vijayanagara kings had to face a dark age. The Nayakarajas of Tanjore came into power. Naturally and gradually, the glory and grandeur of Vijayanagara Empire entered Tanjore and the court of Nayaka kings became the abode of fine arts.During the 16th century, some of the Kuchipudi artistes, who are known as Bhagavathalus, migrated to the royal court of Tanjore from Kuchipudi village and received patronage from the King, Atchutappa Nayaka.
These Bhagavathalus settled at Melattur, a small village near Tanjore, and in other neighbouring villages. They pleased the king with their heart-stealing performances and thus secured an “Agraharam” for themselves from the King, Atchutappa Nayaka.
‘Bhagavathas’ or ‘Bhagavathalu’ means artistes who sing and dance episodes from 'Ithihasas' and 'Puranas' and the term ‘Mela’ means group. Therefore Natya mela or Bhagavata mela of Tanjore refers to the group of artistes performing Yakshaganams of Kuchipudi origin, in and around Melattur in Tanjore. Melattur (18 kms from Tanjore city) might have been derived from the combination of Melam (performing group) and Voor (place of settlement).
The very word “Bhagavathar” is the Tamil version of the Telugu word “Bhagavathalu”. Such was the merge of Kuchipudi culture in Tanjore region. Following this adaptation, it is clear that the then prevailing dance form in and around Tanjavur too, gained the advantages of a few characteristics of Kuchipudi's form. As the Melattur Bhagavatha Mela dance dramas are colourful, rich in music and has a striking visual appeal, the Melattur style Bharatanatyam too has all these characteristics as its unique features.
Our Mahaguru, Late Sri Mangudi Dorairaja Iyer, hailing from Mangudi Village (about 23 kms from Melattur) of Tanjore District, developed this style of Bharathanatyam.
Source from Sridevi Nrityalaya
Some of the examples of how melattur style adavus are executed: