Dance

In traditional Hindu culture, all of the performing arts had intimate connections
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Dance
with religious life, and dance was no
exception to this pattern. In their art,
dancers merely follow the divine model,
since in Indian mythology Shiva is the preeminent dancer; indeed, in his dancing he
first creates the universe and later destroys
it. Several classical dance forms can be
directly tied to specific Hindu temples. The
Bharatanatyam form developed in the
temples of Tamil Nadu beginning at the
Brhadeshvar temple in Tanjore, and is
immortalized in the sculptures of the Shiva
temple at Chidambaram. The Orissi style
came from the temple of Jagannath in the
city of Puri, on the Bay of Bengal. Some of
the other classical styles were traditionally
performed only in temples, or had their
beginnings in religious festivals: the
Kathakali form in the state of Kerala, the
Kuchipudi form in Andhra Pradesh, the
Chau form in eastern India, and the
Manipuri form in Manipur. The only
exception is the northern Indian Kathak
form, whose birth and performance lay in
a court rather than a temple setting, but
which in its subject matter often treated
religious themes, particularly ones drawn
from devotion to the god Krishna.
All of these styles share a highly articulated language of gesture (mudra) and
expression, through which the dancer
can tell a story to the audience. As in all
the classical arts, the dancer’s aim is not
only to entertain, but to create and convey a particular aesthetic mood (rasa),
which will evoke a corresponding emotion (bhava) from the audience. Beyond
these general similarities, each form has
a certain characteristic and stylistic
quality. Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and
Orissi are the most clearly related forms,
but where Bharatanatyam presents a
sharply geometric line, with a stiff upper
body, the lines presented by Kuchipudi
and Orissi are progressively softer,
rounder, and more fluid. Kathakali is
characterized by elaborate costumes
and stage makeup, and also by its particular stress on developing and controlling facial mobility. These things
facilitate ease and power of expression.
Manipuri and Chau are both highly
athletic forms, clearly showing the
influence of folk dance, and Chau is
unusual in that the dancers always
wear masks, which sets a prevailing
mood. Kathak is the only dance form in
which the legs are kept straight; this
form stresses intricate footwork in
which the bells on the dancer’s ankles
serve as a complement and counterpoint to the drum, combined with dramatic turns and spins.
As mentioned above, all the dance
forms except for Kathak developed in
some sort of religious context. In many
of these latter cases, dance was an offering presented to the deity, and was
primarily performed for the deity’s
entertainment, although the other
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Dance
Dancers performing in the Manipuri style.
spectators could enjoy it, as well.
Although different schools have different typologies, the most pervasive distinction is between “pure” dance
(nrtya), conveying nothing beyond the
dancer’s skill in movement, and “acting”
dance (natya or abhinaya), in which the
dancer tells some sort of story. Until the
twentieth century, the dancers were
usually temple servants known as
devadasis. The devadasis were officially
married to the temple’s deity and performed various ritual services in the
temples as his “wives,” but they could
have liaisons with other men as they
wished. Any children from these liaisons
would also be in the service of the temple—their sons as musicians, and their
daughters as dancers. At times this
arrangement degenerated into common
prostitution, but in many cases it was
recognizably different. These women
had status and property of their own,
even though their status was unusual,
and thus marginal. In the twentieth century the dance performance site has
moved from the temple to the stage,
which has had a number of effects on
transforming it from a form of worship
to a performing art. For further information on the history of the dance and its
particular manifestations, see Mohan
Khokar, Traditions of Indian Classical
Dance, 1984. For a masterful analysis of
the devadasis, see Frederique Apffel
Marglin, Wives of the God-King, 1985.