Indian dance forms

​The UPSE CSE Prelims 2016, is scheduled to be conducted on August 7 2016. The first stage of the exam is prelims. The Paper II being qualifying in nature, now all efforts must be concerted in the direction of paper 1 which is General studies.

General studies, is a wide arena which encompasses polity, history, geography, economy, environment, and art and culture. Observing the recent trends in the upsc prelims one can see that art and culture is occupying a fair percentage of the questions being asked.

In 2013 alone six questions were asked; in 2014 a massive 11 questions. While 2015 exam paper saw five questions from art and culture.

After all “one cannot be an administrator of a country like India without the knowledge of its vibrant art and culture. “ So, starting with this colourful topic of art and culture we will take our first of the many coming initiatives to effectively crack the civil services prelims. All the best Students and remember that every dream can be brought to reality with hardwork!

Indian Dance like other Indian arts has always been conscious of the relationship between the human beings and God. 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 Natyashstra is also known as the fifth veda.

According to the author he has evolved this veda by taking words from Rigveda, music from Samaveda, gestures from The Yajurveda and emotions from the Atharvaveda. There is also a Legend that Brahma himself wrote the Natyaveda, which has over 36,000 verses.

In terms of the classical tradition formulated in the Natyasastra, dance and music are an inextricable part of drama (Acting + Singing + Dancing + Natya).

Basic aspects of dance:
As per The ancient treatise, dance is considered as having three aspects.

Natya: Highlights the dramatic element and most dance forms do not give emphasis to this aspect today with the exception of dance drama forms like Kathakali.

Nritya: It is essentially expressional performed specifically to convey the meaning of a theme or idea.

Nritta: It is pure dance where body movements do not express any mood nor do convey any meaning.

To present Nritya and Natya effectively a dancer should be trained to communicate the Navarasas:

• Love( Shringar),
• Fear( Bhayanak),
• Disgust ( Bibhatsa),
• Wonder( Adbhuta) and
• Peace( Shanta).

An ancient classification followed in all styles is of dance

Tandava: The masculine, is heroic bold and vigorous.
Lasya: The feminine is soft, lyrical and graceful.
Abhinaya: Broadly means expression. This is achieved through,
Angika: The body and limbs.
Vachika: Song and speech.
Aharya : Costume and Adornment.
Satvika: Moods and emotions.
Bharata and Nandikesvara, the main authorities conceive of dance as an art which uses the human body as a vehicle of expression.

Classical dance of India:
The criteria for being considered as classical is the style’s adherence to the guidelines laid down in Natyashastra, which explains Indian art of acting. The Sangeet Natak Academy currently confers classical status on eight Indian classical dance styles.

Bharatnatyam:
Bharatanatyam dance is considered to be over 2000 years old. Several texts beginning with Bharata Muni’s. Natyashastra provide information on this dance form. The Abhinaya Darpana by Nandikesvara is one of the main source of textual material, for the study of technique and grammar of body movement in bharatanatyam dance.

According to some scholars, the name derived from Bharata’s Natyashastra. Some ascribe it to Bha, Ra, Ta, standing for Bhava, Raga and Tala.

Bharatanatyam is known to be Ekaharya, where one dancer takes on many roles in a single performance. In the early 19th century the famous Tanjore Quartelte, under the patronage of Raya Serfoji are said to have been responsible for the repertoire of Bharatanatyam dance as we see it today.

The style was kept alive by the Devadasis who were young girls gifted by their parents to the temples and who were married to the Gods. Some of the renowned performers and gurus of the early part of the century belongs to the Devadasi families, a well known name is Bala Saraswathi.

The two famous styles of Bharatanatyam are the Pandanallur and the Thanjavur styles. Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai was a famous exponent of Bharatanatyam. He style known as the Pandanallur school of Bharatanatyam. It is known for its broad sweeping movements, exquisite framing of teeramanams with beautiful adavus.

The repertory of the Bharatanatyam of today is considered to have been codified by four famous teachers (nattuvanar) of Thanjavur: Chinniah, Ponniah, Shivanandam and Vadivelu, who flourished in the region of Maharaja Sarfoji, in the early 19th century.

Kathakali Dance:
Kerala is home of several traditional dances and dance drama forms, the most notable being Kathakali. Kathakali is a dance form popular today is considered to be of comparatively recent origin.

Kathakali is a blend of dance, music and acting dramatises stories, which are mostly adapted from the Indian epics. It is a stylised art form, the four aspects of Abhinaya- angika, aharya, vachika, satvika and the Nritta. Nritya and natya aspects are combined perfectly.

Deepika Kathakali derives its textual sanction from Balarama Bharatam and Hastalakshana.

Kathakali dance is chiefly interpretative. The characters in kathakali performance are broadly divided into satvika, Rajasika and Tamasika.

Satvika: characters are noble, heroic, generous and refined
Rajasika: Though they are depicted as anti-heroes, they are sometimes great warriors and scholars such as Ravana, Kamsa and Sisupala, to name a few.

In no other dance style is the entire body used so completely as in kathakali. The technical details cover every part of the body from facial muscles to fingers, eyes, hands and wrists.

The facial muscles play an important part. The movement of the eyebrows, the eyeballs and the lower eyelids as described in Natyasastra are not used to such an extent in any other dance style.

Kathak Dance:
The word kathak has been derived from the word katha which means a story. Kathakarsor story tellers are people who narrate stories largely based on episodes from the epics, myths and legends.

The vaishnavite cult which swept North India in the 15th century and the resultant bhakti movement, contributed to a whole new range of lyrics and musical forms. The Radha-Krishna theme provide immensely popular along with. The works of Mirabai, Surdas, Nandadas and Krishnadas.

The emergence of Raslila mainly in the Braj region was an important development, it combined in itself music, dance and the narrative. Dance in Raslila however was mainly an extension of the basic mime and gestures of the kathakaras or story tellers which blended easily with the existing traditional dance.

With the coming of the Mughals, this dance form received a new impetus. A transition from the temple courtyard to the palace darbar took place which necessitated, changes in presentation.

The nineteenth century saw the Golden Age of kathak under the patronage of Wajid Ali shah, the last Nawab of Qudh. He established Lucknow Gharana, with its strong accent on bhava, the expression of moods and emotions.

The Jaipur Gharana known for its layakari or rhythmic virtuosity and the Benaras Gharanas are other prominent schools of kathak dance

The technique is built by the use of intricate system of foot work and pirouettes . Pure dance ( nritta) is all important where complex rhythmic patterns are created through the use of flat feet and the control of sound of the ankle bells worn by the dancers.

An interesting aspect of kathak is mime performed to the accompaniment of musical compositions( pakhwaja, a type of mridangam ora pair of table) in which just a single line is interpreted in a variety of ways through subtle variations in facial expressions and Hastas.

A special feature of kathak is padhant- in which dancers recites complicated bols and demonstrates then the concluding item is Kramalya or Takar which concentrates on intricate and fast footwork.

Manipuri
The dance in Manipuri is associated with rituals and traditional festivals, there are legendary reference to the dances of Shiva and Parvati and other Gods and Goddesses who created the universe.

Lai Haroba is one of the main festivals still performed in Manipur which has its roots in the prevaishnavaite period. Lai Harobais the earliest form of dance which forms the basis of all stylised dances in Manipur.

Literally meaning the merry making of the Gods, it is performed as a ceremonial offering of the song and dance. The principal performers are the maibas and maibis who enact the theme of the creation of the World.

The themes often depict the pangs of separation of the Gopi and Radha from Krishna.

The Manipuri classical style of singing is called Nat- very different, form both North and South Indian music, this style is immediately recognisable with its high pitched open throated rendering with particular type of trills and modulations. The main musical instrument is the pung or the Manipuri classical drum.

Odissi:
Orissa on the eastern sea coast of India is the home of odissi, one of the many forms of Indian classical dance.

Sensuous and lyrical odissi is a dance of love and passion touching on the divine and the human, the sublime and the mundane. The Natyasastra mentions many regional varieties, such as the South- Eastern style known as the odhra Magadha which can be identified as the earliest precursor of present day odissi.

The repertoire of odissi usually consists of Manglacharan dancers slowly enters the stage with flowers in her hands and makes an offering to mother earth. The next item is called Batunritya were the basic concept of the odissi nritta technique are highlighted bringing out the duality of the masculine and feminine through the basic stance of the chowk and tribhanga.

This is danced in praise of Batukeswar Bhairava or Shiva, Pallavi, in which song is elaborated through graceful movements and facials expressions and interspersed with pure dance and poses; Tharijhan again pure nritta and moksha, the concluding item which is the dance of liberation through joyous movements.

Kuchipudi:
Kucipudi is one of the classical styles of Indian dance. Around the third and fourth decade of this century it emerged out of a long rich tradition of dance- drama of the same name.

In fact, kuchipudi is the name of a village in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. In the 17th century kuchupudi style of Yakshagaana was conceived by Siddhendra yogi a talented vaishnava poet and visionary who had the capacity to give concrete shape to some of his visions.

Kuchupudi combines lasya and tandava elements, folk and classical shades. Prescribed costumes and ornaments.

A recital of kuchupudi begins with invocatory number, as is done in some other classical dances. Earlier the invocation was limited to Ganesh Vandana. It is followed by nritta that is non- narrative and abstract dancing.

Usually Jatiswaram is performed as nritta. Next is presented a narrative number called Shabdam. One of the favourite traditional shabdam is Dasavathara. The shabdam is followed by a natya number called Kalapam.

Next in the sequence comes a pure nriyabhinaya number based on literary cum musical forms like padam, javali, shlokam etc. A kuchipudi recital generally conclude with tarangam. Experts of Krishna- leela- tarangini are sung with this number.

The music that accompanies the dance is according to the classical school of carnatic music and is delightfully syncopathic.

Sattriya:
The sattriya dance form was introduced in the 15th century A.D by the great vaishnava saint and reformer of Assam, Mahapurusha Sankaradeva as a powerful medium for propagation of the vaishnava faith. The dance form evolved and expanded as a distinctive style of dance later on.

This neo-vaishnava treasure of Assamese dance and drama has been, for centuries, nurtured and preserved with great commitment by the sattars i,e vaishnavas maths or monarstries. Because of its religious character and association with the sattaras, this dance style has been aptly named sattriya.

Sankaradeva introduced this dance force by incorporating different elements from various treatises, focal folk dances with his own rare outlook there were two dance forms prevalent in Assam before the neo-vaishnava movement such as Ojapali and devadasis with many classical elements in it. Interesting fact is that there was a question on sattriya in 2015 Prelims paper.

With reference to Sattriya dance, which of the following statements are correct?
1) Sattriya is a combination of music, dance and drama
2) It is centuries old- living vaishnavite tradition of assamese
3) It is based on ragas and talas composed by tulsidas, Kabir, and mirabai
Options:
A) 1 only
B) 1 and 2 only
C) 2 and 3 only
D) 1,2,and3
The correct answer is Option B

By:Balalatha Mallavarapu