Before a dancer learns a single item of repertoire, they learn to keep time. In Bharatanatyam, the first rhythm cycle most students meet is Adi Talam.
What is a tala?
A tala is a repeating rhythmic cycle used in Carnatic music, the classical music of South India and the music of Bharatanatyam. Each tala has a fixed number of beats and a fixed way of marking them with the hands: claps, finger counts and waves. Musicians and dancers keep track of the cycle with these gestures.
The structure of Adi Talam
Adi Talam has 8 beats, divided into three parts:
- A laghu of 4 beats: one clap, then counting the little finger, ring finger and middle finger.
- A drutam of 2 beats: a clap, then a wave of the hand.
- Another drutam of 2 beats: a clap and a wave again.
So the full cycle is: clap, 1, 2, 3, clap, wave, clap, wave, and then it begins again.
Our homepage has an interactive Adi Talam you can play at different speeds. Follow along with your hands.
Feel Adi Talam →Speaking the rhythm
Dancers also learn to speak rhythm aloud with rhythmic syllables called sollukattu. A simple pattern for the eight beats is Tha – ka – dhi – mi – Tha – ka – jhu – na. Saying the syllables while stepping helps the body and the ear lock into the same pulse.
Why dancers start here
Adavus, the basic steps of Bharatanatyam, are practised to the tala, often in increasing speeds. A step that feels easy at a slow tempo becomes a real test of control when the speed doubles. Keeping time with the cycle teaches students to land every step exactly on the beat, which is the foundation of the clean, precise footwork the Kalakshetra tradition is known for.
Rhythm is not added to the dance. It is the ground the dance stands on.
Rhythm at Indīvarā Arts
Rhythm and musicality are one of the six parts of every class at Indīvarā Arts. Students learn tala, Carnatic music fundamentals and, as they progress, Nattuvangam: the art of conducting a performance with cymbals and spoken rhythm.