Popular Dances of India
India is a land of diversities, each region and religion having their own customs and traditions. The cultural and folk dances of the country are varied and different. Each dance represents the and ethos of a particular region or a group of people. The dances burst with verve and vitality.
Classical Dances:
Classical dances are performed to pay homage to the lord. Some popular classical dances are Bharatnatyam, Kathakkali, Odissi, Kathak, Kuchipudi and Manipuri. All dances forms are structured around the nine 'Rasa' or emotions, presented by professional dancers adorned with traditional dresses, jewelery and different ways of wearing make up.
Bharatnatyam- Bharatnatyam is one of the popular Indian classical dance. The dance form are structured with different types of hand movements, facial expressions and different types of postures to convey different kinds of emotions to the spectator.
Kathakali – Kathakali dance form emphasizes on the highly complicated mudras, depicting the stories selected from the epics and mythologies.
Odissi – Odissi is regarded as one of oldest surviving dance forms. The dance form features the mudras and emotions, depicting the story of Lord Jagannath and Lord Krishna.
Folk Dances
Folk Dances represents the culture and tradition prevailing in different regions of the country. The dances are performed either by the men alone or with women dressed in a colorful traditional costumes, adorned with heavy jewelery, reflecting the rich cultural heritage of the place. The flavor of culture, living style and habits could be found in every regional dances. Apart from that its gives the information about the legends and myths of the local area.
In north India popular dances includes Dumhal (Jammu & Kashmir), Hikat (Himachal Pradesh), Hurka Baul (Uttrakhand), Bhangra (Punjab) and Dhamyal (Haryana).
Popular South Indian folk dances consists Padayani (Kerala), Kummi (Tamil Nadu), Kolattam, Perini and Thapetta Gullu of Andhra Pradesh.
Folk dances of East India includes Chhau (Bihar), Brita dance (West Bengal), Dalkhai and Goti Puas (Orissa).
The famous dances of west India are Dandiya and Tera Tali of Rajasthan, Dindi and Kala of Maharashtra and Garba of Gujarat.
Bihu of Assam, Hagiri in Tripura, Nongkrem in Meghalaya and Dhol-Cholom in Manipur are well known folk dances of North east India.
Famous South west India regional dances includes Dollu Kunitha of Karnataka, Ghode Modini and Tarngalmel of Goa and Lava Dance of Minicoy dance in Lakshadeep.
