Dances of India
Excavations, inscriptions, chronicles, genealogies of kings and artists, literary sources, sculpture and
painting of different periods provide extensive evidence on dance.
The first references come from the Vedas where dance and music have their roots.
The rich body of dramatic and poetic literature known as the nataka and the kavya in Sanskrit.
An amalgam of the spoken word, gestures and mime, choreography, stylised movement and music is known
as dance.
The latter excavated from Harappa has been identified as the precursor of the Nataraja pose commonly
identified with dancing Shiva.
The earliest treatise on dance available to us is Bharat Muni’s Natyashastra, the source book of the art of
drama, dance and music.
The Natyashastra is also known as the fifth Veda. According to the author, he has evolved this Veda by
taking words from the Rig-Veda, music from the Samaveda, gestures from the Yajurveda and
emotions from the Atharvaveda.
Aspects & Elements of Various Dances
As per Natya Shastra, there are two basic aspects of Tandava and Lasya to Indian classical dances.
Tandava: The masculine, is heroic bold and vigorous.
Lasya: The feminine is soft, lyrical and graceful.
Abhinaya is achieved through angika, the body and limbs, vachika song and speech and aharya, costume
and adornment; and satvika, moods and emotions.
Dance is considered as having three basic elements: natya, nritya and nritta.
Natya highlights the dramatic element like Kathakali.
Nritya is essentially expressional, performed specifically to convey the meaning of a theme or idea.
Nritta is pure dance where body movements do not express any bhava, nor do they convey any meaning.
To present nritya and natya effectively, a dancer should be trained to communicate the navarasas.
1. (shringaara),
2. (haasya),
3. (karuna),
4. (veera),
5. (roudra),
6. (bhayanak),
7. (bibhatsa),
8. (adbhuta)
9. (shaanta).
Indian Classical Dance Forms
Presently, eight Indian dance forms have been considered as classical dance forms and they are :-
1. Bharatnatyam
2. Kathakali
3. Odissi
4. Manipuri
5. Kuchipudi
6. Mohiniyattam
7. Kathak
8. Sattriya
Bharatnatyam
Bharatnatyam, originating from Tamil Nadu. Several texts beginning with Bharata Muni’s Natya Shastra
provide information of this dance form.
The Abhinaya Darpana by Nandikesvara is one of the main sources of textual material, for the study of the
Bharatnatyam dance.
Bharatnatyam is derived from ‘Bharata’ and Natyam’ .‘Natyam in Sanskrit means dance and ‘Bharata’
is comprising ‘bha’, ‘ra’ and ‘ta’ which respectively means ‘bhava’ that is emotion and feelings;
‘raga’ that is melody; and ‘tala’ that is rhythm.
Theme of Bharatnatyam
Bharatnatyam is a solo, feminine type of a dance which is tender and erotic.
The basic theme is love, where the dancers usually perform a devotion to the Supreme Being.
This dance is considered to be a fire dance.
Kuchipudi
Originally called Kuchelapuri or Kuchelapuram is the classical dance form from the South Indian state of
Andhra Pradesh.
Is known for its graceful movements and its strong narrative or dramatic character.
Is located between the classical dance styles of Odissi and Bharatnatyam.
Music in Kuchipudi
The music used in Kuchipudi is classical Carnatic. The musical instruments used to accompany Kuchipudi
dance are Mridangam, Manjira , Veena, Violin, Kanjira, Surpeti, Venu and Tanpura.
A recital of Kuchipudi begins with an invocatory number, generally Ganesha Vandana.
