My Ballerina

My Ballerina by Jayram Daya

The motivation of the Artist Jay Ram, came from seeing his daughter Vidhya, learning Ballet in the school-going years. He liked the pose of the Ballerina standing on her left foot and swinging her right foot across in perfect harmony.

The Ballerina stands on her left foot "tiptoe" position and swings her right foot across, the most admired pose of a Ballerina This is called the pointe technique which is the part of classical ballet technique that concerns pointe work, in which a ballet dancer supports all body weight on the tips of fully extended feet within pointe shoes.

The pose of the Ballerina in the painting represents the two characteristics of reality. The left foot tiptoed on a wooden floor represents the stress of living in this material world and the right foot crossed away from the floor in the air represents the spiritual attainment by a perfect balance of the mind and body with the self (soul).

The Colour red was used to show passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, and adventure. Red is also a magical and religious color. It also covers the inner beauty of this beautiful dancer.

The wooden floor represents the energy in the material nature of the universe. The Ballerina stays in contact to maintain balance and grace. Wood is an organic matter that is neither living nor dead for it has stored energy that can be witnessed by putting it on fire.

The stage light is represented by white and blue. Blue also represents depth, trust, loyalty, sincerity, wisdom, confidence, stability, faith, heaven, and intelligence. Ballerina’s right leg is high above the floor in the deferred position. It spiritually signifies the healing power of God and has positive effects on the mind and the body. The color white is complete and pure, the color of perfection. White contains an equal balance of all the colors of the spectrum, representing both the positive and negative aspects of all colors.

When an image is complete it stops your quest to think. This painting is like a poem that needs your imagination so that you can paint the hidden thoughts in your intellectual mind. The top half is left for your imagination on how you would complete the image and that will be ‘Your Ballerina’

This pose was commonly represented in most images of Lord Krishna and is called ‘Natarajasana’. Having studied Krishna’s attributes and art forms he was notably regarded as ‘The Lord of Dance’ The painter saw the Ballerina as a self realizes Yogi or Krishna, the complete perfection and excellence of Humankind. Krishna was a perfect representation of a Humanoid representing the supreme personality of God.

Health Benefits of Natarajasana – The Lord of Dance Pose: This posture can assist in losing weight, as you tend to burn calories during practice. It strengthens and stretches your ankles, legs, thighs, chest, abdomen, thorax, and hips. This pose develops greater flexibility in your spine, shoulders, and hamstrings. Practicing consistently improves your balance.

The painting “My Ballerina” symbolizes, the connection between religion and the arts and it represents Krishna as the lord of arts, It symbolizes unspoken Pranav (According to Hindu mythology, Pranav is said to be Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva altogether.) or Om pervading the entire universe. The painting represents the 'tribhangy' pose, implying perfect balance or Natvarasana, lord Krishna’s pose.

Krishna always stands on his left foot and swings his right foot across. The left represents material reality ( Prakriti) because it belongs to the side of the beating heart while the right foot represents spiritual reality(Purusha) because it belongs to the motionless, more silent, opposite side.

Krishna stands firmly on the left foot and places the right foot on the ground, indicating grounding in the material reality, giving cognizance to spiritual reality.

Krishna is both a male and a female and is mostly depicted in idols and photos with crossed legs. It gives us a hint that he was a great social reformer

Note

Ballet is an artistic dance form performed to music, using precise and highly formalized set steps and gestures. Classical ballet, which originated in Renaissance Italy and established its present form during the 19th century, is characterized by light, graceful movements and the use of pointe shoes with reinforced toes.