The Way of the Indian Classical Dance

Classical Id most comrehensively embodies it. It is We were given a treat of also thwe most ancient of all the classical dance forms in India.

Out of the nine recognized dance forms, the only two temple dance styles that have their origin in Natya Shastra and are prescribed by the Agamas are Bharata Natyam and Odissi. These two most faithfully adhere to the Natya Shastra but currently do not include Vaachikaabhinaya (dialog acts), although some styles of Bharata Natyam, such as Melattur style, prescribe the lip and eye movements indicating Vaachikaabhinaya.

many centuries the dancers were attached to the temples.  This maintained a strong religious flavour to dance.  Even today many of the traditional themes are mythological in nature.

Kathak (Hindi: कथक) in India has a very rich tradition of classical and non-classical dance.  The Natya Shastra, which is the oldest surviving text on stagecraft in the world, spends a considerable time discussing it.  In the old days of the theatre, the dancers would mime the story while the singers would sing the dialogue.  The instrumentalists would accompany them all.  The nature of the old theatre was such that the dancers occupied a central position.one of the eight forms of Indian classical dances, originated from Uttar Pradesh, India. This dance form traces its origins to the nomadic bards of ancient northern India, known as Kathaks, or storytellers. Its form today contains traces of temple and ritual dances, and the influence of the bhakti movement. From the 16th century onwards it absorbed certain features of Persian dance and Central Asian dance which were imported by the royal courts of the Mughal era.

Sabhas are the organizations involved in the promotion of classical art forms in South India. Ganamukundhapriya is one such Sabha that specialises in classical dances. A dance style is classical to the extent it incorporates the Natya Shastra techniques. What is it? Well it is for you who are interested to dive into, I stop here for now as it is not my cup of tea as yet.

Classical Indian dance, in particularly Bharatanatyam and Odissi, as Balasaraswati puts it, is an artistic yoga (natya yoga), for revealing the spiritual through the corporeal. Bharatanatyam is the most widely practised of Indian classical dances worldwide, as it is the style that most faithfully adheres to the Bible of the classical Indian dance, the Natya Shastra, and most comrehensively embodies it. It is also the most ancient of all the classical dance forms in India.