~ Indian Folk and Classical Dances ~

[MysteRy]

Indian Folk and Classical Dances


Indian culture is as old as the hills and encompasses a wide range of ancient dances. Every region in India has a traditional dance that is an art handed dowm from generation to generation.

Bharatanatyam



The history
Bharatanatyam is one of the oldest dance forms in India. Its roots can be traced back to the Dasiattam dance traditions of Tamil Nadu in South India. This style of dance, as an art form, was nurtured in the temples and received the patronage of the royal courts in South India for centuries.

The name "Bharatanatyam" has two distinct roots. One is its reference to Bharata, the author of the Natyashatra, the ancient Sanskrit text that serves as a guidebook to classical dancers even to the present day. Broken up into three syllables, 'bha', 'ra', 'ta', it also refers to three important aspects of the form: bhava (mood), rasa (sentiment), and tala (rhythm or cadence).

The devdasis
This dance was traditionally performed by the devdasis, a community of temple dancers, who handed down the knowledge of this art form from generation to generation. Similar to the geishas of Japan, the devdasis were trained in music, dance, literature, and the art of love. The devdasis were women who dedicated their lives to serving the temple deity as dancers and musicians and their performances were an inherent part of the elaborate temple and court rituals. These talented artistes and their male gurus (nattuvanars) carried the torch of this art down the centuries. However, the colonization of India saw a sea change in the country's social values. The Victorian values of the British gained the upper hand and the devdasis lost the patronage of the court as they were unacceptable in 'polite society' according to the prevalent social values. As a result, the devdasis were often treated as common prostitutes by the end of the 19th century. This community of artistes fell into disrepute and there was a danger that this wonderful dance form would have been lost to modern India.

The revival
The 1930s saw a movement to revive this dance form when a renewal of interest in India's cultural heritage prompted the educated elite to rediscover its beauty. Consequently, some surviving devdasis, such as the legendary Balasaraswati, were invited to perform on stage.

The present form of Bharatanatyam as we know it has been codified and documented in the early 19th century by four brothers - Chinnayya, Ponnayya, Vadivelu and Sivanandam - who were also known as the Tanjore Quartet. Their dance compositions form the bulk of the Bharatanatyam repertoire even today.

Rukmini Devi was the first woman from the educated elite to learn this dance form and give it social acceptability. It is thanks to pioneers like her and E. Krishna Iyer that this dying art form was revived and taken out of its sheltered existence within temple walls and given a platform in the public eye. However, bharatanatyam still retains its essentially devotional character.

A typical bharatanatyam performance
A bharatanatyam performance today would comprise of a combination of pieces emphasizing nritta (abstract dance) and/or nritya (narrative or expressive dance using enactment or abhinaya).This dance form is distinguished by a strong basic position, ardhamandala, with feet and knees turned out in a plie position. The spine is held erect, and movement is initiated from the central area between the solar plexus and the navel. Hand gestures, called mudras, are used to emphasize the basic lines. They are also the means through which a dancer 'speaks' as the mudras constitute a language code in abhinaya or narrative dance.

The dance usually has devotional love as its theme. The dancer plays the part of a woman devotee awaiting an erotic union with the god, her beloved. The dancer is either dressed in a sari worn in the Tamil style or cut and sewn as loose trousers with long pleats attached in front. In keeping with tradition, the dancers wear bridal jewellery, as the devdasis  were supposed to 'brides of god.' Originally, a dance meant to be performed solo by a woman, it is now also performed by men and by groups of dancers.

Learning bharatanatyam
Today, Degree and PostGraduate courses covering the practice and theory of Bharatanatyam as well as the languages associated with its development are available at major universities of India. Rukmini Devi has also established a school called Kalakshetra that teaches this dance form.

Some of the famous exponents of this art form are: Shanta Rao, Indrani, Yamini Krishnamurti, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Kalanidhi Narayanan, U.S. Krishna Rao, and C.V.Chandrashekhar.

[MysteRy]

Indian Folk and Classical Dances


Kathak



Telling a story
Kathak is a North Indian classical dance. In ancient times, storytellers used mime and gesture for dramatic effect. Gradually, this became more stylized and evolved into a dance form. This took the form of Kathakalakshepam and Harikatha in southern India, and the form of Kathak in the north.

Thus, the main feature of this style is the telling of stories by the means of dance. The dancer represents all the characters of the story with the help of a repertoire of gestures, facial expressions and graceful movements of the limbs. Kathak, like the other Indian traditional dances of Odissi and Bharatnatyam, began as a devotional dance form based on the Natya Shastra, an ancient treatise on devotional dance. The stories that were initially performed in Kathak were primarily based on Hindu mythology, often with themes involving Lord Krishna and his consort Radha, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

The Mughal influence
With the advent of the Mughals, this dance form underwent a radical transformation. The Mughals brought with them an entourage of dancers and musicians from Persia and Central and Western Asia. While these artistes borrowed some elements and features from Indian dance and music, they, in turn, had a deep influence on Indian dance forms and music. Kathak, as we know it today, is the result of the fusion between the Hindu and Muslim cultures. Kathak is also believed to have ties to the Flamenco and gypsy traditions in Spain, as well as various North Indian folk dances.

The Persian and Muslim influences altered the dance from a temple ritual to a means of royal entertainment. The emphasis shifted from the religious to the aesthetic. The Muslims gave greater importance to nritta or the pure dance aspect and less to abhinaya, which is the expression and emotion. It was through the patronage of the Mughal rulers that kathak took the form it has retained ever since, characterized by rhythmic footwork and spectacular spins. The Mughal influence also resulted in the move away from strictly Hindu mythological themes, the Kathak dancers also dramatized themes from Persian and Urdu poetry

The tawaifs
At the time of the Mughals, Kathak was performed by tawaifs, who were female entertainers similar to the geishas of Japan. The tawaifs were highly trained artistes. It was a common practice for members of the royal family to send their children to tawaifs to learn the intricacies of etiquette. However, there is a popular misconception today that tawaifs are prostitutes. This can be traced back to the days of the British, who thought the tawaifs were nothing better than common prostitutes and consequently outlawed them. As a result, kathak as an art form went into a downward spiral and would have been lost to modern society if it weren't for a revival of interest in traditional Indian dance forms that occurred post-Independence.

Nritta and nritya
There are two aspects to this dance form - Nritta and Nritya. The former, refers to the technical, abstract aspect of the dance with a tremendous sense of rhythm and joy of movement. The beauty of this part of Kathak lies in the exact rendering of the rhythmic patterns, given by the instruments, through graceful body movements and mastery of the artist's footwork.

Nritya, or abhinaya, refers to the explanation of a story or a song through facial expressions, gestures of the hands and symbolic postures of the body. The Kathak style is not totally rigid, however; it allows the artist to use a variety of free movements, thus leaving the interpretation of a story to the dancer's power of imagination and creativity. This north Indian dance form is inextricably bound with classical Hindustani music, and the table or pakhawaj accompanies the rhythmic nimbleness of the feet.

Kathak has an exciting and entertaining quality with intricate footwork and rapid pirouettes being the dominant features of this style. The costumes and themes of these dances are often similar to those in Mughal miniature paintings. Here, the accent is more on footwork as against the emphasis on hasta mudras or hand formations in Bharatanatyam.

An actual performance
A traditional kathak performance is performed solo by a dancer dressed in Persian costume, and will include the following repertoire: amad (the dramatic entrance of the dancer on stage), thaat (slow, graceful section), tukra, tora, and paran (improvised dance compositions), parhant (recitation of rhythmic patters), and tatkar (footwork).

This dance form is distinguished by an upright stance with knees straight. The upper body movements are fluid and subtle, with the strength of the dancer more concentrated in the lower body, governing intricate and rapid drumming of the feet. The traditional costume accentuates the rapid-fire pirouettes that are a hallmark of the style. As in all classical forms, small brass bells are worn on the ankles to mark rhythmic steps.  Kathak is the only form, however, that can boast of dancers who wear up to 200 such bells on each ankle.

The repertoire of Kathak is deeply connected to the classical music tradition of northern India. Often there will be a part of performance that features an exchange of rhythms between the dancer and drummer. The abhinaya is far more restrained than in the southern styles.

The gharanas
There are three main gharanas or schools of Kathak -  the Jaipur, Lucknow and Banaras schools. Each has a slight difference in interpretation and repertoire. The Jaipur gharana espoused a command of complicated pure dance patterns. This gharana stresses technical items like toda and tukda, and ancient story telling. The Lucknow style is famous for graceful expression of romantic feelings. It is characterized by precise, finely detailed movements and an emphasis on the exposition of thumri, a semiclassical style of love song. Nowadays, however, performers present a blend of kathak based on the styles of both gharanas.

Today, the maestros of this dance form include Pandit Birju Maharaj and Uma Sharma. Pandit Birju Maharaj is an exponent of the Lucknow gharana who pioneered the concept of large-scale dance dramas. In recent years, choreographers such as Kumudini Lakhia and British-based Nahid Sidiqui have explored the vocabulary of kathak to express contemporary themes. Other dancers have created performances showing the links between kathak and European dance traditions such as flamenco and gypsy dance.

[MysteRy]

Indian Folk and Classical Dances


Kathakali



The origins
The literal translation of the word 'Kathakali' is `story-play'. This form of dance-drama originated in the 17th century in the state of Kerala. In a country that boasts traditions and culture that are centuries old, Kathakali being just 300 years old, is a relatively young dance form.

However, its roots can be traced back to even earlier times. It has links to Koodiyattom, the only surviving form of Sanskrit theater in India that has been preserved by a small community called the Chakyars as a part of their hereditary temple service. Krishnanattom, another form of dance-drama performed even today at the famous Sree Krishna temple in Guruvayoor is also considered a forerunner to Kathakali. Besides these two forms, elements from martial, ritualistic and socio-religious arts have also played a part in the making of Kathakali. Thus, Kathakali can be summarized as a theater form that is a combination of dance, music, percussion, acting and painting.

The first Kathakali performance was a cycle of eight stories based on the Ramayana written by one of the chieftains of a district known as Kottarakkara. The performance for each story was designed to last for six to eight hours. These stories came to be known as Ramanattom (play pertaining to Rama), which later came to be called Kathakali. Stories based on other epics and puranas were added to its repertoire in later period.

The features
A striking feature of Kathakali is the use of elaborate facial make-up, colourful costumes, and headgear. While other dance forms are more emotive than narrative, Kathakali is both. It combines dance with dialogue to bring myth and legend to life in the temple courtyards of Kerala. The dancers use their stunning costumes and make-up, with the accompaniment of drums and vocalists, to create various moods and emotions.

The dancer represents a particular character, rather than a neutral personage depicting several characters, a convention known as ekaharya abhinaya. These characters can be as varied as gods, demi-gods, villains, kings, princesses, half-human and half-animal beings, saints, demons, and children. There is specific make-up and costume types associated with each personage.

This dance form involves the whole body of the actor and includes an elaborate scheme of facial expression, mime, gestures, accompanied by their appropriate movements, poses and attitudes. The interpretation of the text is primarily conveyed through hand gestures.

Another distinguishing characteristic of Kathakali is that the actors do not speak. Vachika (drama text in the form of verses and songs) are recited and sung by vocalists. These songs are explained and interpreted in details by actors through an elaborate method of angikabhinaya, which consists of highly codified gestures, facial expression, and body movements. The vocal music in Kathakali is based on the Carnatic (South Indian) system and its aim is to evoke the appropriate dramatic mood and sentiments.

Through a systematic process of practice an actor gains full control of the facial muscles that enables him to express the basic bhavas or emotions of love, laughter, sorrow, anger, energy, heroism, tranquillity, fear and astonishment.

The makeup is also a method of categorizing the characters. For instance, green makeup represents heroic or divine characters like Krishna or Arjuna; red represents evil and white is a symbol of piety. The actor does a major part of the face make-up himself. However, specially trained artists are entrusted to apply Chutty (a procedure that involves framing the face with white paper and rice paste). Designs vary according to the type of characters.

A typical performance
In olden days Kathakali performance mostly took place on a temple premises or at the house of a local land lord. A pandal or a canopy with a thatched roof would be erected with a green room located close by. The stage is not raised, but at the same level as the audience and is decorated with coconut leaves, bunches of areca nuts etc. The only source of light is a big bell metal lamp placed down the center stage.

At about 6 o'clock in the evening the performance is announced by a brief passage of drumming known as Kelikottu. The actual performance begins only between 9 and 10 o'clock at night. Arrangukeli, another passage of drumming, marks the commencement of the performance. This is followed by Thodayam, a piece of abstract dance, which is invocatory in nature. Junior actors in the group with simple make-up perform Thodayam. The recitation of Vandanaslokam (a chanted prayer), is followed by Purappad, a preliminary item that introduces the main character of the story in full costume and make-up. Next is the Melappadam, which is a musical piece where vocalists and the drummers are given the opportunity to show their skill without depending on the actors. Then the story or part of the stories proposed is enacted, which may go on till the wee hours. The end of the performance is marked by a piece of pure dance called Dhanasi.

The current flourishing of the form is largely due to the efforts of the poet Vallathol, one of the cultural revivalists of the Independence era. Like Bharatanatyam, Kathakali also needed a resurrection in the 1930s. The great poet Vallathol rediscovered Kathakali, establishing the Kerala Kalamandalam in 1932, which gave new life to this art form.

[MysteRy]

Indian Folk and Classical Dances


Odissi



The origins
Odissi (also spelt as Orissi) is a classical Indian dance form that originated from Orissa, a state on the east coast of India. It is said to be one of the oldest classical dance forms. It has been mentioned in ancient inscriptions and has been depicted in temple sculptures that exist in famous structures like the dance hall of the Sun Temple in Konark. Thus, it can boast a history that is almost 2,000 years old.

The Natyashastra mentions a regional dance form known as Odhra Magadha, from which present day Odissi may have been derived. The temple dancers of Orissa were female devotees known as maharis who played a similar role to that of the devadasis of south India. In the 15th century, young boys who had dedicated their lives to serving the temple were also inducted into this dance form. They were known as gotipuas. Right up to the beginning of the 20th century, the dance form was passed down orally from generation to generation; from mother to adopted daughter in the case of the maharis and from teacher to the dedicated boys for the gotipuas.

The style
Odissi is a combination of narrative and pure dance forms. It has its roots in devotional ritual and commences with an invocation to the deities, the earth and the gurus and ends with a highly technical display of pure dance. The narrative elements of Odissi are often taken from the Gita Govinda, a manuscript that has the divine erotic love of Radha and Krishna as its theme. The relationship between the human being and God is expressed in the form of a woman yearning for her beloved.

Odissi manages to marry the spiritual with the sensuous beautifully, depicting erotic sentiments in a reverential manner. The dancers use their head, bust and torso, to express different moods and emotions. The fluid, graceful movements are punctuated by moments of stillness when the dancer poses as if he or she were a sculpture adorning a temple wall. Then the dancer begins to move again giving the audience the impression of a sculpture come to life.

A typical performance
Odissi is a soft, lyrical dance. Female dancers wear loose silk trousers with pleats draped like a fan in front, while male dancers wear dhotis that cover the lower half of their bodies. Odissi is characterized by two distinctive poses: tribanga, the three body stance, and chowk, the square squat, where the dancer adopts a wide, flexed-knee stance with the feet turned out.

The performance usually begins with manglacharam, in which the performer pays obeisance to the god, the guru, and the mother earth. This is followed by batu nritya, the striking of various poses with instruments, and pallavi, the elaboration, in which the dancer displays poses similar to what is depicted in the temple carvings. The performance ends with moksha (liberation), which suggests the dancer is reaching a state of absolute peace. In ashtpati, songs from the Gita Govinda, are used by dancers as expressional pieces.

The musical accompaniment has strains of both the Hindustani and Carnatic schools, using instruments like the flute, drums and small cymbals.

The fall and rise of Odissi
From the late 16th century, the recognition of Odissi as an art form suffered a setback for almost 300 years as a result of the turmoil existing on the Indian political front. The maharis were forbidden to dance in the temples and their performances were labelled immoral. The gotipuas too lost their patronage. To escape from the resulting penury, the gotipuas were forced to join jatras (roving theatre groups) where they eked out an existence dancing in the interludes between dramatic acts. Odissi's shift from the temple to the stage can be traced to this practice.

Odissi was revived as a neo-classical dance form in the post-Independence era by a group of scholars, dancers and teachers who came together as a group called Jayantika. If not for them, this dance form would have been lost to the world forever.

The four most prominent names amongst them are Pankaj Charan Das, Kelu Charan Mahapatra, Deba Prasad and Mayadhar Raut. The first two along with Kum Kum Mohanty and Sanjukta Panigrihi are hailed as the most famous modern exponents of Odissi.

[MysteRy]

Indian Folk and Classical Dances


Bhangra



The origins
The bhangra is a folk dance that has its roots in the region of Punjab in northwest India and Pakistan. Unlike other folk dances which usually fail to catch the interest of the masses outside their particular community or geographical region, bhangra has managed to transcend its label as being merely a folk dance to be performed by Punjabi sons of the soil.

Celebrating the harvest
Bhangra began as a dance to celebrate the harvest and was usually performed at the time of Baisakhi (the harvest festival). It was traditionally the domain of males, though today it is open to dancers of both sexes. The dancers' costumes comprised colourful lungis, waistcoats and turbans. The dance movements were supposed to depict the cycle of plouging, sowing and reaping.

It is an energetic dance involving vigorous movements of the shoulder and hips. The beat is heavy and hypnotic. The accompaniment is in the form of singing, clapping and the beat of the drum. The main instrument is called the dhol. It is a large barrel-shaped drum that provides the rhythm and the beat.  A drum roll often marks the end of each line of the song and the last line is repeated by the dancers like a chorus. Dancers often form a circle with pairs of dancers periodically taking centrestage to give solo performances that showcase their prowess, virility and acrobatic ability. Getting into the festive mood, dancers often punctuate each beat with an exuberant shout and may even be moved to recite witty couplets.

The gidha
The female version of the bhangra is known as the gidha. It is performed by a group of female dancers, but like in the bhangra, pairs of dancers or individual dancers break away to show off their skill while the rest of the dancers clap in rhythm. The gidha is performed at the time of the festival of Teeyan to welcome the monsoon.

Bhangra goes international
Today bhangra is not just a dance form, but a term that embraces a new form of music. Initially it was a dance performed to celebrate a good harvest. Soon it was not just confined to the harvest time but found its place at weddings and almost all other celebratory occasions. It looked beyond the boundaries of Punjab with its inclusion in innumerable Bollywood films. Performers like Daler Mehndi, Bhuppi, Jassi, etc. have taken it to the top of the Indipop charts. Finally, it crossed the seas to become the most 'happening' thing on the Asian club scene in London. Modern disc jockeys found that the foot-tapping rhythms of bhangra were almost begging to be remixed. Today, you can't escape it. It's on television; you hear it in cabs and discos alike. It has crossed all boundaries of religion, caste, community and country. Bhangra has gone international.

[MysteRy]

Indian Folk and Classical Dances


Kuchipudi



The origins

A village called Kuchipudi
The dance known as Kuchipudi derives its name from a village near Maulipatam in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The roots of this dance form can be traced back to the Yakshagana plays of the Brahmins and the secular court of the Raja Nartakis. During the time of the Vijayanagar Empire, Brahmins were the preservers of this dance form. But after the decline of this empire, many of them shifted to Tanjore, which could be an explanation for some similarities in style to Bharatanatyam.

Initially, the Kuchipudi style of dance was in the form of dance dramas. Performances were usually given by a group of dancers having a nomadic lifestyle and had a religious theme. They slowly gained royal patronage and but in the course of time they saw a loss of status.

Siddhendra Yogi
It was at the time of the Bhakti movement that this dance form saw a revolution. Siddhendra Yogi, a respected scholar and artist took it upon himself to give this art form a more definite form and to purify it. He introduced refined and stylised footwork and they use of traditional classical music. He refrained from training women as he felt that they might lower the spiritual tone by exaggerating the gestures and sentiments. Thus, Kuchipudi became a male bastion and even the female roles were played by men. Only young boys having a high outlook and living a religious austere life were inducted into this dance form. The art was passed on from generation to generation, from father to son. Siddhendra Yogi is also remembered as the author of the famous play "Bhamakalapam" about the Lord Krishna and his consorts Satyabhama and Rukmini. He developed the most famous part of the Kuchipudi repertoire - the Satyabhama cycle.

The style
Kuchipudi utilizes a more relaxed flexed-knee position than any of the other southern styles.  As Kuchipudi is not mere a dance form but is combination of dance, gestures, speech and song, a Kuchipudi dancer has to be well versed in dancing, acting, music, various languages and texts. Kuchipudi sometimes also uses techniques such as dancing in metal plates, or on earthen pots or the use of coloured powder on the feet to mark out a design on the floor.

Around the 1930s, the maestro Vedanta Lakshmi Narayana Sastry created ripples in the world of dance by introducing women dancers to Kuchipudi. Today, Kuchipudi has metamorphosized to include both group and solo performances by both men and women.

Some of the legendary performers and gurus were Kuchipudi Brahmins like Lakshmi Narayan Shastri and Chinta Krishna Murti, who excelled in roles like Satyabhama in Bhamakalapam. Later gurus include Vedantam Chinna Satyam.

[MysteRy]

Indian Folk and Classical Dances


Manipuri



The origins
Manipuri is an Indian classical dance form that has its roots, as its name suggests, in the north-eastern state of Manipur. Manipuri has many differents aspects and the origins of this dance form are steeped in myth and legend.

It is believed that the original form of Manipuri is known as Lai Harouba. This dance was performed by maibis who were priestesses of the Meitei tribe who acted as the bearers of the faith from generation to generation. The dance, as performed by them, had the myths surrounding creation as its theme and the relationship between the male deity Lai and the female deity Lairembi.

According to Meitei folklore, when God created Earth, its surface was lumpy and uneven. The seven Lainoorahs danced on the surface of the earth, gently pressing down on it with their feet to make it firm and smooth. Thus, even today, if you observe the Manipuri dance, you will see that the dancers do not stamp their feet vigorously, but place them delicately on the ground.

There is another myth about the beginning of Lai Harouba. The story goes that when Krishna, Radha and the gopis danced the Ras Leela, Lord Shiva ensured that no one would disturb the beauty of the performance. Hence, when his wife Parvati expressed a wish to be present, he acquiesced and the Ras Leela was re-enacted in Manipur. Down the ages, in the 11th century, during the rule of Raja Loyamba, this dance was performed by Prince Khamba and Princess Thaibi of the Khomal and Mairang dynasties respectively. At this time, it was renamed the Lai Harouba.

Even the origin of the name 'Manipuri' has its own legend. Manipuris are believed to descendants of the Gandarvas, the dancers and musicians of the heavenly court of the Lord Indra. Lord Shiva and the Goddess Parvati are said to have dance in the valleys of Manipur accompanied by the Gandharvas. The performance was lit up by the Mani or jewel on the head of the serpent Athishesha. And that is how Manipur got its name.

The style
According to some ancient texts, this dance form was originally called jogai and its circular movements have been likened to the revolution of the planets around the sun. The body movements involved are soft and flowing, requiring tremendous inner muscle control. The movement of the limbs and the torso often represents the figure of eight. Unlike other Indian dance forms that adopt more open and squat positions, Manipuri is characterized by a more compact stance. In Manipuri, hand movements are used decoratively rather than symbolically. The entire body becomes an instrument of expression in Manipuri, which is not restricted merely to facial expressions. Most performances revolve around the theme of Ras and depict the innumerable escapes of Lord Krishna.

Manipuri gained popularity in the 20th century, when the poet Rabindranath Tagore came out with his own dance dramas. He choreographed the dances himself drawing heavily upon South East Asian and Indian dances like Manipuri.

The leading exponents of Manipuri today are Rajkumar Singhajit Singh and his disciple, Charu Sija Mathur.