Chhau is a dance-drama form prevalent in Eastern India. There are three major forms of Chhau, each known by its geographic location.
Some Chhau dances use large stylized masks. Although they are all known as Chhau, their styles differ considerably in terms of their cultural background and their dance characteristics.
Chhau is a masked dance, the motif of which has been drawn from the mythological picturesque. In the opinion of some people "Chhau" is a dialect which meams six faces, Viz. fore head, eyes, nose, cheeks, lips and chin and a mask bears the six parts of the face. The word 'Chhau' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Chhaya' meaning 'shade image mask' which is an essential features of this art. The beginning of Chhau dances is lost in hoary past and the rulers have been intimately associated with religious festivals known as "Chaitra Parva" celebrated every year for several centuries.
Barong is probably the most well known balinese dance. Its is also another story telling dance, narrating the fight between good and evil. This dance is the classic example of Balinese way of acting out mythology, resulting in myth and history being blended into one reality.
Born and bred in the west of France, Thierry “Titi” Robin is a musical internationalist, brilliantly combining flamenco guitar with Arabic oud and the dance music of Rajasthan’s snake charmers. Titi Robin and his formation "Trio" are playing in Jaipur's hotel (Rajasthan, India)
Tune: La ville rose & Suite pour Oud Musicians: Titi Robin: 'Ud, Guitar, Buzuq Ze Luis Nascimento: Percussions Francis Varis: Accordeon Gulabi Sapera: Dance
Bhavai is Rajasthan's famous folk dance comprising of a spectacular performance. This Dance form consists of veiled women dancers balancing upto seven or nine brass pitchers as they dance nimbly, pirouetting and then swaying with the soles of their feet perched on the top of a glass or on the edge of the sword. There is a sense of cutting edge suspense and nail biting acts in the dance.
Bonalu is a famous festival of Andhra Pradesh which is especially celebrated with great aplomb in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The term Bonalu comes form “Bhojanalu” or food offering which is made to the Goddess Mahakali. During this festival women dress colorfully and perform a dance balancing exquisitely painted pots on their head. These women dance along with the mellifluous beats of the tunes sung in the praise of Goddess Mahakali. In these pots usually an offering for Goddess Mahakali is taken which includes cooked rice, water and sometimes pickles and onions. Usually this vertical Battery of pots is decorated in sacred colours (White, Yellow and Red). This colours are called as PASUPU, KUNKUM, and KADI. The pots, once ritually dedicated to the goddess before they are lifted on to the heads of the women carrying them, are considered to have got charged with the spirit of the Goddess. This woman walks with a intense feeling of being possessed by the spirit of the Goddess. Because of this mood in her, she is easily gets into trance and begins to move rhythmically in tune with the drum beat. In 2009, the date of Ujjaini Mahankali Bonalu is July 12, Sunday and the Rangam will be celebrated on July 13, Monday.
Beautiful Meena Kumari... And beautiful ghazal written by Kaifi Azmi, music by Gulam Mohamed. From the film "Pakeezah", directed by Kamal Amrohvi. Of course sung by great Lata.
The Sang Hyang Dedari dance usually involves teenage or young dancers because of their purity: a virgin girl is considered holy. When it is performed, the dancers are in a state of trance, allowing them to make wonderful movements. A holy priest, known locally as 'pemangku', then brings them out of the trance by saying a prayer and blessing them with the holy water. When they emerge from the trance, they are weak and exhausted and unaware of having danced on stage.The dance is performed when divine spirits temporarily descend on villages, revealing themselves through the entranced dancers. Sang Hyang is the name of the divine spirit, meaning holiness, while Dedari (meaning 'angels') describes the trance ceremony. Performed by Ubud Panca Artha Group:
The classical dances of India are essentially story-telling arts. Some of the names, such as Kathak and Kathakali, are even derived from the root word 'katha' meaning story. In fact the Natya Shastra in its chapter on the origin of dance describes how in the Treta yuga, the gods -- concerned at falling morals in the mortal world -- asked Brahma to create an edifying art that would not only provide lessons in ethics but also entertain the audience and practitioners. And who doesn't love a good story? So it was, says the author of the Natya Shastra, that Brahma devised the art of dance, culled from the essence of the four Vedas. Anita Ratnam, one of India's most gifted artists, is an accomplished classical and contemporary dancer and choreographer.
According to legend, Cloud Gate is the name of the oldest known dance in China, a ritual dance of some 5,000 years ago. The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan was the first modern dance company in Asia and is now thought to be one of the best in the world.
Italian by birth, Ileana Citaristi holds a Doctorate in Philosophy with a thesis on “Psychoanalysis and Eastern mythology”. She has come to Indian dance after years of experience in the traditional as well as experimental theatre in Europe. lleana has been living in Orissa, India, since the year 1979 in close contact with the people, their language and culture. It's odissi dance performing near 64 yogini temple in western orissa (2006). The film has three sloka from the SAUNDARYALAHARI, the tantric text dedicated to the female energy. Choregraphy by Ileana Citaristi. Dancers: Ileana Citaristi, Saswat Joshi.
The Nagina is a snake in the form of a woman. In popular belief the snake is associated with wealth, fertility and power. In tantric symbolism, the snake represents the primal creative energy or Kundalini, which lies dormant in the space of the spine, which, when aroused, ascends and activates the chakras of the subtle body. It is also the title of a movie made in Bombay. In the movie, the Nagina, played sumptuously by Sridevi, is discovered by her mother-in-law in her true form.
Butoh dance is a performing art that originated in Post World-War II Japan and was first performed in 1959. It is a contemporary form of dance that has little to due with either traditional Japanese dances or most western forms of dance, although it does borrow elements from some of each. People tend to think of Butoh in terms of aesthetic markers: white body paint, shaved heads, slow movement gained through intense muscular control, and a way of manipulating the body that is at once beautiful and grotesque, tragic and absurd. Go see that dance in person. Butoh Performance by Tadashi Endo (Dance) & Robin von Hoegen (Music).
The swaying coconut trees in the gentle breeze is reminiscent of the soft and languorous movements of Mohiniyattam - the feminine classical dance form of Kerala. Literally meaning the Dance of the Enchantress, it is deeply rooted in femininity, GRACE (Lasya) and BEAUTY (Sringara) forming the quintessence of this dance form.
