World Dance Day: Famous classical dances of India
India with its vast and diverse culture has developed several different forms of dance. Classical dance has been imbued in the traditional heritage since long. Gradually, they have grown according to the local traditions and imbibed elements from other parts of the country. There have often been fusion performances wherein, classical dances have given a new touch to some age old songs be it English, Hindi or any other regional language. So much so that dancing traditions of India have influences dances across South Asia especially, South East Asia.
Classical dance in India has developed a type of dance-drama that is a form of a total theater. The dancer acts out a story exclusively through gestures. Most of the classical dances enact stories from Hindu mythology. Each form represents the culture and ethos of a particular region or a group of people.
The criteria for being considered as classical is the style's adherence to the guidelines laid down in Natyashastra, which explains the Indian art of acting. The tradition of dance has been codified in the Natyashastra and a performance is considered accomplished if it manages to evoke a rasa (emotion) among the audience by invoking a particular bhava(gesture or facial expression).
The Sangeet Natak Akademi currently confers classical status on eight Indian classical dance styles:
Dating back to 1000 BCE, Bharatanatyam is a classical dance from Tamil Nadu. The dance is often accompanied by classical Carnatic music. The sculptures of the ancient temple of Chidambaram form a large part of its inspiration. Documented in the 19th century as a performing art by the Thanjavur Quartet, their musical compositions form the bulk of the Bharatanatyam repertoire.
Kathakali means katha, “story”; and kali, “performance”. This is a highly stylized classical dance-drama form that dates back to 17th century Kerala. Famous for dancer's elaborate costume, towering head gear, billowing skirts, and long silver nails, Kathakali is performed regularly at festivals in temples, at cultural shows for connoisseurs and also at international events, occasionally in fusion dance experiments.
Kathak has it origin in the north Indian states of ancient nomadic bards known as Kathaks or storytellers. In ancient Indian temples, Brahmin priests(pandits) used to narrate the stories of gods and goddesses through dance, they were known as ((kathakar)) and the dance came to be known as "kathak". Its form today contains traces of temple and ritual dances, and the influence of the bhakti movement. Post the 16th century, Kathak absorbed certain features of Persian dance and Central Asian dance - imported by the royal courts of the Mughal era. There are three major schools or gharanas of Kathak from which performers today generally draw their lineage: the gharanas of Benares, Jaipur and Lucknow.
This is a classical dance from Andhra Pradesh and dates back to 2nd century BC. Kuchipudi is the name of a village in the Divi Taluka of Krishna district that borders the Bay of Bengal and also the surname of the resident Brahmins practicing this traditional dance form, it acquired the present name. The performance usually begins with some stage rites, after which each of the character comes onto the stage and introduces him/herself with a dharavu (a small composition of both song and dance) to introduce the identity, set the mood, of the character in the drama. The drama then begins. The dance is accompanied by song which is typically Carnatic music. The singer is accompanied by mridangam, violin, flute and the tambura. Ornaments adorned by the artists are of a light weight wood called Boorugu.
Odissi originates from the state of Odisha, in eastern India. It is the oldest surviving dance form of India on the basis of archaeological evidences. There are mainly three books of Odissi -The classic treatise of Indian dance, Natya Shastra, refers to it as Odra-Magadhi. It is distinguished from other classical Indian dance forms by the importance it places upon the Tribhangi (literally: three parts break), the independent movement of head, chest and pelvis and upon the basic square stance known as Chauka or Chouka that symbolizes Lord Jagannath. This dance is characterized by various Bhangas (Stance), which involves stamping of the foot and striking various postures as seen in Indian sculptures. The common Bhangas are Bhanga, Abhanga, Atibhanga and Tribhanga.
Sattriya has remained a living tradition since its creation by the founder of Vaishnavism in Assam, the great saint Srimanta Sankardeva, in 15th century Assam.Sankardeva created Sattriya Nritya as an accompaniment to the Ankia Naat (a form of Assamese one-act plays devised by him), which were usually performed in the sattras, as Assam's monasteries are called. As the tradition developed and grew, the dance form came to be called Sattriya Nritya.It has recently been recognised as one of the Indian classical dance forms.
