Dance Promoting Cultural Heritage

What is a Folk Dance?

Folk dance is a type of dance that is a popular, usually recreational, expression of a culture in the past or present. Until the mid-twentieth century, the term “folk dance” was widely accepted. The distinctions between this and other dance categories were then questioned and debated.

The word folk should be used to describe a specific type of dance and dancing, as well as the style or another distinguishing feature of the dance or performance. It should also make it clear who is performing. However, the term folk dance, like its parent term folklore, has been in use since the late 1800s and is not as descriptive or uncontroversial as it appears. The attitudes and goals of many people are at the root of the problem.

Folk was a term used by people who did not consider themselves to be part of the folk but were confident in their knowledge of who the folk were. With condescension, some of these observers referred to folk communities as peasants, simple or quaint people who were illiterate and unconcerned about carrying on supposedly primitive and ancient traditions. 

These authors came to the conclusion that “true” folk dances were created anonymously and passed down from generation to generation. Many researchers followed the path of imagined origins through existing folk dances to modern recreational dances.

Although many academics in the twenty-first century avoid using the term folk because of its past misuse and potential offensiveness, those who do use it frequently mean “traditional,” “authentic,” or “from bygone eras.” Those who don’t want to imply that culture is static may avoid using such a categorical term.

Types of dances in India

Tamil Nadu’s Bharatanatyam (Southern India)

Bharatanatyam, a dance form from Tamil Nadu in southern India, evolved from the art of temple dancers and was previously known as Sadir or Dasi Attam. It is the first of India’s traditional dances to be refashioned as a theatre art form and widely exhibited both in India and abroad.

Manipuri (North-eastern India)

The Vaishnava faith of the Meiteis, or people of the Manipur valley, is at the heart of Manipuri dance, which originated in Manipur in north-eastern India. Manipur’s temples remain one of the dance’s most important staging locations. As a result, devotion is the main theme of Manipuri dance, and the rich lore of Radha and Krishna lends it episodic content. Over the course of centuries,

Orissa’s Odissi Dance (Eastern India)

Odissi dance originated in Orissa, India’s easternmost state, where it was first performed as part of temple service by ‘maharis,’ or female temple servants. Traditional dance was remoulded as a theatre art in the mid-twentieth century, with references to not only existing dance art but also representations of dance in mediaeval sculpture, painting, and literature in Orissa. Odissi dance has quickly spread across the country in its new form.

Kathak is a traditional Indian dance form (Northern India)

Kathak is the national dance of northern India, and it is currently popular in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and even parts of western and eastern India. It’s thought to have something to do with Kathakaras’ narrative art.

Or storytellers who have been teaching the lay masses the scriptures, epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and puranic literature since ancient times.

Kathakali

Kathakali, or story play, emerged in the seventeenth century in Kerala, southern India, under the patronage of the prince of Karnataka, who wrote plays for performance based on the epic Ramayana in Malayalam, the local language. Most Kathakali plays are based on stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, which have come down to us in a steady stream over three centuries.

Kathakali divides its characters into categories based on their personalities and uses make-up and costume to transform them into symbolic figures. Mohiniattam employs rhythms unique to Kerala: the rhythmic syllables used are those of the Kerala language.

Dance uplifting cultural heritage

Dance genres, like other forms of performance art, oral traditions, and human activities, can now be included in UNESCO Heritage lists as “intangible cultural heritage.”

Since the UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage was signed in 2003, the concept of intangible cultural heritage has gained official recognition.

The concept behind the convention reflects a major shift in attitude toward cultural heritage, from one that is static and linked to monuments and material culture to one that is more flexible and includes practices, knowledge, traditions, skills, and material elements associated with these practices, such as spaces and artefacts.

Various dance genres have become popular all over the world. They were created by a specific person. As they have been transmitted to different cultures, they have changed.

To some extent, change is unavoidable in the transmission of dance, but when different cultures are involved, two things can happen. Either a new hybrid form of dance, a completely new genre, or a new style within the same genre with new characteristics has emerged.

Conclusion

The theory and origins of Indian classical dances, or ‘Shastriya Devesh,’ can be found in the Sanskrit text Natya Shastra. The different types of dance that fall under this umbrella have their origins in Hindu religious musical theatres. Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, Odissi, Mohiniyattam, Manipuri, and Satriya are the eight classical dance forms in India. Folk dance forms, on the other hand, are a part of a region’s indigenous tradition. The folk and classical dances of India, which are performed at special occasions, festivals, and ceremonies, capture the essence of India’s culture.

India has a long history that has resulted in the creation of classical and folk dances that are still performed today.