Dance and sacred space

City-based Bharatanatyam dancer Rukmini Vijayakumar talks about the relationship between dance and the performance space.
How do you use the basic elements of space to create possibilities in dance?
Every space on stage elicits a certain response in the audience. If I come and stand centre stage, it is very different from standing upstage right or towards the wings or in the corner or all the way in front of the stage.Most of the time, when I choreograph, I first see to which part of the space my movement travels and only then do I add movement. I know the space it occupies before I make the movement. However, in my traditional work the rhythm comes first, the movement comes second, and space comes last.
It depends on the piece. There is work where space matters a lot and there is work where the movements within my body matter more than the space that it occupies. That being said a large portion of traditional Bharatanatyam work is concerned with the body and not as much with the space it occupies. An interesting thing that we do in Bharatanatyam is that we also construct space. We can construct an imaginary space that the audience can visualise depending on how we interact with space. Space not only becomes a partner, but the constructed space also becomes something that we react and respond to.
How does time/timing create possibilities for the dancer in space?
Timing is everything in theatre, more so in a theatrical dance form. Both, the timing of how we express something and also how we express makes a big difference to the dance experience. For example, in Carnatic music, you can't go off talam. If you miss the timing and go offbeat after the avartanam is over, the entire punch of the jati is gone. In theatre, how an emotion builds and ends is really important because everything works with rhythm. The timing of emotions, physicality, and how everything builds creates impact.