The Pedagogy of Precision: Training, Transmission, and Transformation in Bharatanatyam Practice

This paper critically examines the pedagogical structures embedded in the training and transmission of Bharatanatyam, focusing on the nuanced interplay between precision, embodiment, and evolving practice. Drawing on ethnographic observations, interviews with gurus and practitioners, and archival research, the study traces the shifting dynamics of Bharatanatyam pedagogy from traditional gurukula systems to institutional and globalized contexts. The research interrogates how ideas of nritta, nritya, and natya are taught and internalized and how precision in technique serves as both a disciplinary tool and a site for creative transformation. It explores the tensions between codified training methods and individual artistic agency, especially in contemporary spaces where Bharatanatyam is recontextualized for diverse audiences. Through this lens, the paper foregrounds the embodied labor of the dancer as a critical site of knowledge production and reconsiders pedagogy not as static transmission but as a dynamic process of negotiation and reinvention.