Classical Dance Forms Of India

Know Your Classical Dances: Locating Kuchipudi’s roots and transformations in traditions of dance-drama

In each recital, Kuchipudi has retained at its core the flavours of the sensual, romantic, and erotic shringara rasa that have shaped its oldest renditions.

Know Your Classical Dances: Mohiniyattam, once thrust into obscurity during British rule, revived in early 20th century

From being categorised as a dance of the vaishya or the prostitute to receiving recognition as a prolific art form and a codification into the realm of the ‘classical,’ Mohiniyattam has perhaps been one of the few dance styles to have undergone such humongous shifts through history.

Know Your Classical Dances: How Kathak has historically served as a medium of storytelling that cuts across classes

Throughout history, quite unlike most classical art forms, Kathak has seldom been performed as an offering to a deity, instead from its earliest stages, it has been a recital directed at an audience comprising its patrons as well as the common people.

Odissi on High: A transnational production displays the dance form's synergy between male and female elements

Odissi is a young dance form, though it has assimilated and is born of ancient temple dance traditions, music, poetry, and devotion to Jagannatha. At a recent performance of Odissi on High, an all-male ensemble achieved striking masculine vigour with quintessential movements – movements that only easily lend themselves to execution with feminine grace.