What is the minimum period required for a five year old to master the Baratanatyam dance?

Answer 1

Depending on the skill level of the learner. Learning the dance form and mastering it are two entiely different issues. In case of mastering it can take years n to learn the basic for the 5 year old it can take between 4-6 years. All depends on the enthusiasm n perseverance of the young dancer.

Answer 2

A traditional format, margam (path), of a Bharata Natyam performance, especially important in the graduation performance, or Arangetram, is rather rigidly structured, and reflects the different stages of the dancer's consciousness. Aranga means raised stage and Etram means climbing in Tamil, one of the south Indian languages. It is also called Rangapravesha in Kannada, another south Indian language, Ranga meaning Stage and Pravesha meaning Enter. Ideally this should be the first public appearance of the Bharata Natyam artist.
This is the occasion for the guru to present his/her disciple to the public. This is the testing time for both the guru and the shishya(disciple) as the guru's knowledge and the disciple's talent both are judged by the public. Hence, the guru will decide when the disciple is ready for public graduation. Usually, at least 10-12 years of training is necessary before the Bharata Natyam dancer is ready for Arangetram.

See a dancing girl in this video clip:
http://in.geocities.com/medhahari/bharata-natyam-bharathanatyam-bharatanatyam-bharatnatyam-videos.html

Answer 3

that would really depends on how well the dance teacher is in making the steps easier for the child to imitate.

Answer 4

i have alot of friends who took it since she was 5 and she had her arangatram when she was 15...but if yur just wanting to learn the basics i think maybe 4 to 5 yrs is good...