 The dance heritage of India is at least five thousand years old. The paintings on the walls of the historical caves of Ajanta and Ellora and the Konark Temples (showing dancing men and women), apparently prove that dances are inextricably linked with the culture and civilization of India since its hoary past. Previously, a few so-called ‘low-caste’ tribes - Nats and Domnis, who used to practice dancing and singing as hereditary professions gave performances at different kind of celebrations and on other social occasions. As a result, in many parts of India, the educated urbanites of the past were extremely distasteful towards dance as an art form and did not allow them to grow in any form in their society. It was the involvement of some of the exponents that helped remove the stigma attached to girls taking up dancing as their professions.
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The dance forms of India can generally be categorized under the rubrics of - classical and folk dances. A third category where there has been an assimilation and synthesis of Indian classical and western concepts is also popular. The exponents of this category did a lot of experimentations and came out with a number of innovations. All three broad categories mentioned, are inherent in the dance styles of Bengal as the styles are deeply enriched by all the major streams of Indian dance.
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Among the three categories, Indian classical dances like Bharat Natyam, Oddisi, and Kathakali are very popular in Bengal and there are many institutions which specialize in them. The other two categories were also made popular by geniuses like Rabindranath Tagore and Uday Shankar. |
Uday Shankar |
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A new age of awakening dawned when Rabindranath Tagore appeared in the cultural arena of Bengal. Tagore brought a revolution in the sphere of dances by popularising the Nritya-natya (dance drama) in Bengal. The maestro infused music into his beautiful poems which gave birth to some quintessential songs. His dance-dramas were mainly based on these songs and his dances relied heavily on Indian culture and tradition. Some of the very popular dance dramas of Tagore include - Chandalika, Kalmrigaya, Taasher Desh, Mayar Khela, Shyama and Chitrangada. Among all the dance dramas, ‘Chitrangada’ is worthy of special mention. This is one dance drama in which Tagore’s creativity knew no bounds. In this dance drama, Tagore, in a very impressive way, made a spectacular fusion of the style and techniques of Kathakali and Manipuri dances.
Top The other revolution in Bengali dance was ushered in by Uday Shankar. Western dances, Indian folk dances and classical dances are the three basic subjects that he experimented with. He incorporated different dance styles, such as Bharat Natyam and Kathakali into his choreographic productions. An extremely good show-man as well as an idealist, Uday Shankar established an idyllic institution in the picturesque hills of Kumaon. The principal motive behind establishing this school was to train his troupe in such a way that they could produce a varied, rich and contemporary dance vocabulary. The kind of folk dance Uday Shankar dealt with, underwent several changes in a more advanced society. Although with time, there were several changes in the dance forms, they never lost their spontaneity and the central feeling of a community life.
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| (i) |
Group dances performed in different religious and social festivals; |
| (ii) |
Community dances of different tribes to celebrate different age-old family customs and personal occasions like birthdays, wedding ceremonies etc.; and |
| (iii) |
Tribal dances based on black magic, sorcery, witchcraft etc., drawing inspiration from the folk culture. In Bengal, there are indefinitely many festivals that take place through out the year. There are several folk songs and dances related to these festivals. Since the festivals are rich in variety and content, the folk dances related to the festivals also assume colourful dimensions. |
Commonly seen folk dances of Bengal are: Brita or Vrita dance, Chhau Dance of Purulia, Tusu Dance, Santhal Dance and Gambhira.
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