Muzik Info Inc.

The indian dances are roughly classified into two categories

1. The Classical Dances of India

2. Folk Dances of India

Classical dances are those, which have their roots in the definition and illustration of dance in Natya Shastra. Folk dances are those, which were developed by the village or the tribe? people based on their own regional music. Another distinction between the folk and classical style dancing is that the former is learnt by watching and the later is taught only by a guru for it has a rigid set of rules.

The components of all Indian Classical dances are nritta, nritya, and natya. Nritta is the movement without anything abstract added in. Nritya is nritta plus looks of feeling (abhinaya). Abhinaya is comprised of rasa (feeling) and bhava (disposition). There are several rasas: hasya (joy), krodya (rage), bhibasta (distain), bhaya (terror), sucka (sadness), viram (bravery), kuruna (empathy), adbhuta (curiousity), and shanta (tranquillity). Natya is the telling of a story or the topic. Most come from old Indian stories. Mudras influence the nritta, nritya, and natya, greatly. Nritya is usually expressed by mudras.

Palm, finger, and wrist positions are called Mudras help make up the nritya and natya. Usually the mudras will accent ballads chanted by the singer, and help to form a picture of the story. There are only a couple of types of mudras: one hand mudras and two hand mudra. In the one hand category, there are just under thirty.

The positions do not have a single meaning. The pataka ("the flag") has over forty different meanings. Lunar rays, woods, and walking on a lane are just a few of them. The mudra must be in accord with the rasa on the face.

"Where the hand goes, the eyes must go,
Where the eyes go, the mind goes,
Where the mind, the expression,
Where there is expression, there is joy."

Mudras also have a symbolic meaning to the posture of Shiva Nataraja.

For details of classical dances pls link below

http://www.ec21.com/klasdances

For details of classical dancers pls link below

http://classicaldancers.weebly.com

For details of Elements of Classical Dance pls link below

http://classicaldance.tripod.com