History of Indian clasical Dance

Dancing is the natural expression of human feelings. It is a rhythmic movement of body in pace with the music accompanied. Many religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, etc use dance postures in the shrines, which itself depicts the importance of dance in worship.

The Ancient Greek thought Dance was an art for the immortals.Dancing to a specific pattern is called "Formation Dance". The Korean Fan dance and Square Dance are examples of these.

A dance has a story or message. The Haka dance in New Zealand is performed by the aborgines just before a battle is fought.

The Indian clasical Dance has a story of its own about its evolution. Lord Indra was worried about the people who were drifting away from teh right path. He consulted Lord Brahma to overcome his worries. Lord Brahma said that the four Vedas- Rigveda,Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda- were created for the sake of man's wisdom. Lord Indra was not at all satisfied and insisted upon having a fifth Veda,which was pleasing to the eye and ear as wee as constructive and entertaining. Lord Brahma made out a fifth veda- the Natyasatra- out of the four vedas in which he used speech from the Rigveda, music from the Samaveda, expression from the Yajurveda and Rasa potrayal from teh Atharvaveda. He taught Natyasastra to Sage Bharata.

The Natyasastra is the science of music, dance and drama. The presiding deity of Dance is Nataraja- Shiva. The main classical dance forms are Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri,Kathakali and Kathak. Through facial expressions nine emotional moods or Natya -Rasa can be depicted. They are Raudra( Anger), Bhayanaka(fearful), Shringara(erotic mood), Veera(valour), Hasya(humour), Karuna(pathos), Adbhuta(wonder), Beebhatsa(disgust) and Shanta(peace)