August 30th, 2007 
Deepak INDIAN DANCES: Classical Dances
Indian classical dances have their origin in Bharat’s Natyashastra. They are based on three basic concepts ‘nritta, nrittya and natya’. Nritta follows the tala beat in an eloquent expression of pure rhythmic movements. In Nrittaya, abhinaya is the main element which is full of suggestions and expresses rasa and bhava, flavour or mood. Natya is dance as used in drama. Each of these three has the soft and the vigorous aspects, the ‘laya’ or ‘tandava’. The folk or tribal dances do not follow any particular rule. Its nature and forms vary according to the culture and norms of each region of India.
Bharatnatyam: developed in South India particularly in Tamil Nadu in its present form about two hundred years ago. It is a famous classical dance of India. While its poses are reminiscent of sculpture of the 10th century onwards, the thematic and musical content was given to it by musicians of the Tanjore courts of the 18th-19th centuries. It is essentially a solo dance and has close affinities with the traditional dance-drama form called Bhagvata Mela performed only by women; nonetheless, its chiselled sophistication and stylization make it a unique form of art-dance. Noted Artists: Rukmini Devi, Bala Saraswathi, Shanta Rao, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Yamini Krishnamurthy, Kamala, Vaijyantimala, Sonal Man Singh, Samyukta Panigrahi etc.
Kathakali: Originated in the state of Kerala, Kathakali is a musical dance drama. Unlike the others, it is dramatic rather than narrative in character Different roles are taken by different actors; the dancers are all men or were so, till recently. It makes epic mythological themes as its content and portrays them through an elaborate dramatic spectacle which is characterized by another-worldly quality, a supernatural grandeur, a stylized large-size costume to give the impression of enlarging human proportions and a mask like make up on the face which is governed by a complex symbolism of color, line design. Noted Artists: Ragini Devi, Shanta Rao, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Rita Ganguly, Krishna Nair, and Gopinathan.
Mohiniattam: is one of the distinctive dance styles of India. It originated in Kerala. This form had almost become extinct when it was revived by poet Vallathol Naranyan Menon early this century. Since then dancers have striven to reclaim the lost repertoire of Mohiniattam. The main features of Mohiniattam are its exquisite feminine charm and its graceful swaying movements. It is a solo dance performed by women only. In technique, Mohiniattam somewhere between Kathakali and Bharatnatyam. The technical structure of Mohiniattam is fairly similar to that of Bharatnatyam, but its gesture language is fusion of elements from both Bharatnatyam and Kathakali. And again, like Bharatnatyam, Mohiniattam too has items of NRITTA, pure dance, as well as nrittya, expressional dance. Mohiniattam is mainly a LASSY dance performed strictly according to the rule laid down in the Natya Sashtra. Noted Artists: Bharati Shivaji, Vaijyantimala, Shanta Rao, Kanak Rele etc.
Kathak: from north India, is an urban, sophisticated style full of virtuosity and intricate craftsmanship. Commonly, identified with the court traditions of the later Nawabs of northern India, it is really an amalgam of several folk traditions, the traditional dance-drama forms prevalent in the temples of Mathura and Brindavan known as the Krishna and Radha Leelas, and the sophistication of the court tradition.
Its origins are old, its present format new, attributed to the genious of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and the hereditary musician dancer, Pandit Thakur Prasadji. In technique, Kathak is two-dimensional, always following a vertical line, with no breaks and deflecting the footwork is the most important part of the dancer’s training, where she or he is taught innumerable rhythmic patterns with varying emphasis so that the 100 odd ankle bells can produce a fantastic range of sound and rhythm. Noted Artists: Birju Maharaj, Uma Sharma, Gopi Krishan, Kurnudini Lakhia, Damayanti Joshi, Durgalal and Devilal, Saswati Sen etc.
Manipuriis a lyrical dance form from the eastern region of India. Although many forms of ritual, magical, community and religious dances were known to Manipur before the advent of Vaishnava faith in the 18th century, the dances known as the Rasa dances evolved only as a result of the interaction of the Vaishnava faith in the 18th century, and the several highly developed forms of ritual and religious dances which were prevalent in the area.
The origin of the Rasa dances is attributed to the vision of a king. Be that as it may, five different types of ballets, with a well-conceived structuring of Corps de ballet, solo pas de deux revolving round the theme of Radha-Krishna and the Gopis (milkmaids) comprise the large part of the classical repertoire. The second group of the classical dances is known as the Sankirtanas, performed generally by men with typical Manipur drums called pung or cymbals (Kartals) or clapping. At large variety of intricate rhythmic patterns is played on the drum and the cymbals. The Nata Sankirtana often precedes the Rasa. Like Bharatnatyam and Odissi, Manipuri can also be broken into pure dance pattern sections and mime. The latter is also lyrical, subtle and, unlike Bharatnatyam and Odissi, there is no dramatic extrovert expression. Noted Artists: Jhaveri Sisters, Charu Malhar, and Bipin Singh.
Odissi is a close parallel of Bharatnatyam. It developed from the musical play (Sangita, Nagaka) and the dances of gymnasiums known as the akharas. Sculptural evidence relating to the dance goes to the second century B.C. A 12th century poetic work called Gita Govinda has dominated the poetic and musical conent of the dance styles. The dance was performed by women called maharis in the temple of Jagannath, later, men dressed as women, called gotipuras, performed these dances in the courtyard of the temple. The present Odissi as a solo form evolved out of all the above. It has been revived during the last two decades. Its technique is built round a basic motif in which the human body takes the thrice deflected (tribhanga) position of Indian sculpture. The lower limbs are in a demiplie, the upper torso is broken into two units of the lower waist and upper chest, which move in counter opposition. The repertoire comprises numbers which are built on pure dance (nritta) design recalling sculptural poses of the Orissan temples : the poses are strung together within several metrical cycles (talas) and dances performed to poetry ranging from the invocations to Ganesha to the verses of the Gita Govinda.
Noted Odissi Dancers: Sanjukta Panigrahi, Sonal Man Singh, Madhvi Mudgal, Kiran Sehgal, Rani Karan.
Kuchipudi:A dance drama of Andhra Pradesh originated from Kuchipudi village. It combines lasya and tandana element and classical shades and strictly follows prescribed costumes and ornaments. Manduka shabdam (story of frog maidun), Balagopala Tarango (dancing with the feet on the edges of a brass plate) and Tala-Chitra- Nritya (in which dancers draw pictures on the floor with their dancing toes) are other remarkable features of this magnificent dance form. Noted Dancers: Jamini Krishnamurthi, Swapna Sundari, Shobha Naidu, Raja and Radha Reddy.
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