BARPS is a somatic method devised by Navtej Johar to embody shapes, be it asana, adavu or any other form, more effectively and fulsomely from the inside. Shifting the focus from both “doing” and mastering the external form, it offers a guided practice to hone the somatic intelligence and the innate sensitivity of the body. This method equips the practitioner with not only formal techniques of movement, but more importantly, facilitates an evocative interface between body and word, where select keywords may be effectively used to precipitate somatic responses within the body, evoke images, inspire form, and also serve as a lens to scan, “see” and sensorially inhabit the body.
A self-regulated practice, its aim is to make the practitioner an informed curator of her own practice, free to autonomously intuit, envision and direct the body, breath and attention unto an immersive shapes with insight, clarity and authority (www.abhyastrust.org)
About Navtej Johar
Navtej Singh Johar is a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award-winning Bharatnatyam dancer and choreographer. He is also a queer activist who, along with five others, famously filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India challenging Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
Johar teaches at Ashoka University, Sonipat. He trained in Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra, a dance school run by Rukmini Arundale in Chennai, and with Leela Samson at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in New Delhi. He subsequently studied at the Department of Performance Studies, New York University, and won several fellowships for his research over the years
