Indian dance

Dance in India can be organized into three categories: classical, folk, and modern. Classical dance forms are among the best-preserved and oldest practiced in the 21st century. The royal courts, the temples, and the guru to pupil teaching tradition have kept this art…

The six recognized schools of Indian classical dance developed as a part of religious ritual in which dancers worshipped the gods by telling stories about their lives and exploits. Three main components form the basis of these dances. They are natya, the…

In India the union of music, song, and dance with character portrayals took place several centuries bce. Out of such native drama, with added dialogue, grew the bharata natyam. One of the classical Hindu dance-dramas, it is meticulously described in the Natya-shastra, the great treatise of…

Bharata natyam, the classical dance form originating in southern India, expresses Hindu religious themes that date at least to the 4th century ce (see Natya-shastra). Other regional styles include odissi (from Orissa), manipuri (Manipur), kathakali (Kerala),

…South Asia stem principally from Indian tradition. The principles of aesthetics and gesture language in the Natya-shastra, a 2,000-year-old Sanskrit treatise on dramaturgy, have been the mainstay of all the traditional dancers and actors in India. Even folk performers follow some of its conventions; e.g., the Kandyan dancers of Sri…

Indian theatre is often considered the oldest in Asia, having developed its dance and drama by the 8th century bce. According to Hindu holy books, the gods fought the demons before the world was created, and the god Brahmā asked the gods to reenact the…