CULTURE N6 INDIAN DANCE FORMS

Kuchipudi

AP - Kusselavas - Vaishnavism - Bhagavat purana - Bhagavathalus - Balasaraswati and Ragini Devi ▪️Originally performed by group of actors going from village to village, known as Kusselavas, Kuchipudi derives its name from the Andhra village of Kusselavapuri or Kuchelapuram ▪️With the advent of Vaishnavism, the dance form became a monopoly of the male Brahmins and began to be performed at temples. ▪️Stories of Bhagavat purana became a central theme of the recitals, and the dancers came to be known as Bhagavathalus. ▪️It remained confined to villages and remained obscure till the advent of twentieth century, when Balasaraswati and Ragini Devi revived this dance form

Nandikeshwara's famous treatise on dance,

Abhinaya Darpan an act has been broken into three basic elements: ▪️Nritta - It refers to the basic dance steps, performed rhythmically but devoid of any expression or mood. ▪️Natya - It means dramatic representations and refers to themstory that is elaborated through the dance recital. ▪️Nritya - Nritya refers to the sentiment and the emotions evoked through dance. There are nine rasas or emotions that are expressed through the dance.

An important feature of Kathak is the development of

Development of different gharanas as it is based on Hindustani style of music: ➖ Lucknow: Reached its peak under the reign of Nawab Wajid Ali Khan. It puts more importance on expression and grace. ➖ Jaipur: Initiated by Bhanuji, it emphasised fluency, speed and long rhythmic patterns. ➖ Raigarh: It developed under the patronage of Raja Chakradhar Singh. It is unique in its emphasis on percussion music. ➖ Banaras: It developed under Janakiprasad. It sees a greater use of floorwork and lays special emphasis on symmetry.

features of Manipuri dance are

Devotion - Tandava and *Lasya - Naga Bandha mudra - Ras Leela - pung - Thang-Ta and Sankirtana ▪️emphasis on devotion and not sensuality. ▪️The faces are covered with a thin veil and facial expression is of lesser importance, Hand gestures and gentle movement of feet are important. ▪️While the dance incorporates both Tandava and Lasya, emphasis is laid on the latter. ▪️Naga Bandha mudra, in which the body is connected through curves in the shape of '8' is an important posture in Manipuri dance form. ▪️Ras Leela (Radha-Krishna love story) is a recurring theme of the Manipuri dance recital. ▪️The drum - pung - is an intricate element of the recital. ▪️Thang-Ta and Sankirtana are also influenced by Manipuri dance.

Kathakali Different colours have their own significance:

GRBYWC Green indicates nobility, divinity and virtue. Red patches beside the nose indicate royalty. Black colour is used to indicate evil and wickedness. Yellow colour is for saints and women. Completely Red painted face indicates evil White beard indicates beings with higher consciousness and divinity.

Mohiniattam

Kerala - Enchantress- solo - Vadivelu - V.N.Menon + Kalyani Amma ▪️Mohiniattam or the Dance of an Enchantress ('Mohini' meaning beautiful woman and 'attam' means dance), is essentially a solo dance performance by women that was further developed by Vadivelu in 19th century and gained prominence under the rulers of Travancore in the present state of Kerala. ▪️The patronage of Swathi Thirunal the Travancore ruler in 19th century, is notable. ▪️After it had fallen to obscurity, the famous Malayali poet V. N. Menon revied it along with Kalyani Amma.

Kathakali

Kerala - R&M - Koodiyattam - M+D+D - V.N.Menon —> Mukunda Raja ▪️In the temples of Kerala, two forms of dance-drama, Ramanattam and Krishnattam, evolved under the patronage of feudal lords, narrating episodes from Ramayana and Mahabharata. ▪️These folkndrama traditions latter became the source of Kathakali, which derived its name from the words 'Katha' meaning story and 'Kali' meaning drama. ▪️It is closely related to Koodiyattam (Sanskrit darama tradition) and other ancient martial-arts performance also. It is a wonderful combination of music, dance and drama. ▪️However, with the breakdown of the feudal set up, Kathakali strated to decline as an art form. ▪️It was revived in the 1930s by the famous Malayali poet V. N. Menon under the patronage of Mukunda Raja

As per Natya Shastra, there are two basic aspects of Indian classical dance

Lasya - It denotes grace, bhava, rasa and abhinaya. It isnsymbolic to the feminine features of dance as an art form. Tandava - This is symbolic to the male aspects of dance and has more emphasis on rhythm and movement

The language used for Kathakali songs is

Manipravalam, i.e., a mixture of Malayalam and Sanskrit.

Bharatnatyam

Oldest - Bharata Muni + Natyam - sadir- devasasis - E. Krishna Iyer - Rukmini Devi Arundale - TN ▪️Oldest among all classical dance forms, ▪️Derives its name from Bharata Muni and 'natyam' which means dance in Tamil ▪️The origins of this dance form can be traced back to 'Sadir' - the solo dance performance of the temple dancers or 'devadasis' in Tamil Nadu, hence it was also referred to as 'Dashiattam' ▪️The efforts of E. Krishna Iyer, a prominent freedom fighter, revived this dance form. ▪️Rukmini Devi Arundale, another famous proponent of Bharatnatyam, is remembered for giving global recognition to the dance. ➖ Fire dance ➖ Equal emphasis - both Tandava & Lasya aspects, major emphasis on mudras ➖ Katakana Mukha Hasta - symbolise OM ➖ the knees are mostly bent and the weight is equally distributed across both the feet ➖ 'Ekcharya lasyam' style in which one dancer plays many different roles.

Number of classical dance forms in India

Presently, Sangeet Natak Akademi, there exists eight classical dance forms in India B 3KS MOM Bharatnatyam Kathak Kathakali Kuchipudi Sattriya Mohiniattam Odissi Manipuri all these dance forms are governed by the basic rules and guidelines laid down in the Natya Shastra, the principal rule being that true transfer of knowledge can only come through a guru. Till now, Sangeet Natak Akademi has recognised 08 classical dance forms whereas the Ministry of Culture has recognised 09 classical dance forms including Chhau

Kathak

Ras Leela - UP - Story tellers - influenced by Persian countries ▪️Tracing its origins from the Ras Leela of Brajbhoomi, Kathak is the traditional dance form of Uttar Pradesh. ▪️Kathak derived its name from the 'Kathika' or the story-tellers who recited verses from the epics, with gestures and music. ▪️During the Mughal era, the dance form degenerated into lascivious style and branched off into court dance. ▪️It was also influenced by Persian costumes and styles of dancing

Sattriya

Shankaradeva - 15 Assam - Sattras - Bhakti ▪️Introduced by the Vaishnava saint Shankaradeva in the 15th century A.D in Assam. ▪️The art form derives its name from the Vaishnava monasteries known as 'Sattras', where it was primarily practised. ▪️It finds mention in the ancient text 'Natya Shastra' of sage Bharat Muni. ▪️It is inspired from Bhakti Movement

Manipuri

Shiva & Parvati - Lai Haraoba - 15 Vaishnavism - females - Raja Bhagavat Chandra - Rabindranath Tagore ▪️The celestial dance of Shiva and Parvati in the valleys of Manipur along with the local 'Gandharvas'. ▪️The dance form traces its origin to the festival of ▪️Lai Haraoba where many dances were performed. ▪️However, the dance gained prominence with the advent of Vaishnavism in 15th century. ▪️Then, Krishna became the central theme of this dance form. ▪️It is performed generally by females. ▪️In the modern times, Raja Bhag Chandra of Manipur in 18th century tried to revive Manipuri dance. ▪️Rabindranth Tagore brought back the dance form into limelight when he introduced it in Santiniketan

Kathak is generally accompanied with

dhrupad music.

features of Kuchipudi dance

▪️difficult foot movements ▪️stories of Bhagwata purana but have a secular theme. ▪️There is a predominance of Shringaara ras. ▪️Each principal character introduces itself on the stage with a "daaru", which is a small composition of dance and song

Jugalbandi

Jugalbandi is the main attraction of kathak recital which shows a competitive play between the dancer and the table player.

The first formal mention of dance is found in

▪️Bharata Muni's famous work Natya Shastra ▪️compiled in between 200 bce and 2nd century A.D. ▪️Bharata Muni describes dance as the 'complete art' encompassing within its scope all other forms of art - music, sculpture, poetry and drama

features of Mohiniattam

▪️Combines the grace and elegance of Bharatnatyam with the vigour of Kathakali. ▪️There is a marked absence of thumping of footsteps and the footwork is gentle feminine ▪️narrates the story of the feminine dance of Vishnu. ▪️Lasya aspect (beauty, grace) of dance is dominant in a Mohiniattam recital. Hence, it is mainly performed by female dancers ▪️Costume - white and off-white ▪️The element of air is symbolised ▪️Atavakul or Atavus' is the collection of fourty basic dance movements

Apart from group performances, there are some popular solo elements in Kuchipudi as well. Some of them are:

▪️Manduk shabdam - Tells the story of a frog. ▪️Tarangam - The dancer performs with his/her feet on the edges of a brass plate and balancing a pot of water on the head or a set of diyas. ▪️Jala Chitra Nrityam - In this item, the dancer draws pictures on the floor with his or her toes while dancing.

features of Kathakali

▪️Most Kathakali recitals are a grand representation of the eternal conflict between good and evil. It draws its themes from the stories narrated in the epics and the puranas. ▪️It is also called as the 'ballad of the east' ▪️Gestures are perhaps the crown jewel of the entire dance-drama. ▪️Kathakali is remarkable in the representation of the rasas through movements of eye and eye brows, through which the story is conveyed. ▪️Nine important facial expressions called 'Navarasas' are taught to convey the different emotions. ▪️chhenda and maddala marks the beginning andmend of a Kathakali recital. ▪️Kathakali symbolises the element of sky or ether.

features of Sattriya dance

▪️The focus of the Sattriya recitals is own the devotional aspect of dance and narrates mythological stories of Vishnu. ▪️The dance is generally performed in group by male monks known as 'Bhokots' as part of their daily rituals or even on festivals. ▪️Khol (drum), Cymbals (Manjira) and flute form the major accompanying instruments of this dance form.

features of Odissi

▪️similar to Bharatnatyam in the use of Mudras and postures to express emotions. ▪️The tribhanga posture ▪️'Chowk' posture ▪️The dancers create intricate geometrical shapes and patterns with her body. Hence, it is known as 'mobile sculpture'. ▪️symbolises the element of water ▪️The lyrics of Gita Govinda, written by Jayadeva, is used along with compositions of some local poets.

'Tanjor quartet'

The four Thanjavur teachers, known as the 'Tanjor quartet', are Chiniah, Ponniah, Vadivelu and Shivanandam. Under them, Bharatnatyam also came to be known as Tanjore natyam. Bharatnatyam is often referred to as the 'fire dance', as it is the manifestation of fire in the human body.

mudras

These moods and expressions are emoted through the use of mudras - a combination of hand gestures and body postures. There are 108 fundamental mudras, a combination of which is used to depict a particular emotion.

Odissi

Udayagiri-Khandagiri - maharis - Jain King Kharavela- Gotipuas - Nartala ▪️The caves of Udayagiri-Khandagiri provide some of the earliest examples of Odissi dance. ▪️The dance form derives its name from the 'Odra nritya' mentioned in Natya Shastra. ▪️It was primarily practised by the 'maharis' and patronised by the Jain king Kheravela. ▪️With the advent of Vaishnavism in the region, the Mahari system became defunct. ▪️Instead, young boys were recruited and dressed as females to continue the art form. ▪️They came to be known as 'Gotipuas'. ▪️Another variant of this art, 'Nartala' continued to be practised at the royal courts