Bharatnatyam is a major genre of Indian classical dance, originated in Thanjavoor in Tamilnadu. The name Bharatnatyam is simple derivation from the four most important aspects of dance (in sanskrit). These are Bha from Bhava meaning emotion, Ra from Raga meaning music or melody, Ta from Tala meaning rhythm and Natyam meaning dance. Thus Bharatnatyam is the dance that encompasses music, rhythm and expressional dance or Abhinaya.
The theoretical foundations of Bharatnatyam found in Natya Shastra. Natya Shastra is compiled by Bharat Muni. It is beleived that the Lord Brahma created the pancham or Natya veda by seeping information and references from the four vedas. Later he handed it to a holy man Bharata to write it and spread the writings in the material world.
The main feature of the bhartnatyam is that the dancer tends to make beautiful straight lines or triangles as like geometrical angles. The dancer makes different waves of a series. The dance form is always performed with knees of dancers bent. The artist will always make the movements of his/her body in the form of triangles. The step of the dance demands maintenance of equilibrium of body weight and lower limbs. Another special feature of bharatnatyam is the movement of the eyes, which harmonize and emphasize the body movements.