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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c11.s1.t6: Indian Dance

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c11.s1.t6

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English

Indian Dance

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Indian Dance is one of the most important types of dance in the world. Originated and popular in India and surrounding areas, Indian dance has a long history and various styles, including classical dance and folk dance. It has its own unique theoretical system and forms of performance.

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Indian dance can be traced to the historical period of the Indus Valley Civilisation. The bronze dancing girl of Mohenjo-Daro and the plaster male dancer of Harappa clearly indicated that ancient Indians loved to dance in life. According to Indian mythology, Siva the cosmic dancer is the Lord of Dance (Nataraja) being able to perform 108 types of divine dance. The universe evolves from destruction to recreation again and again in his dance. His image of Nataraja is well-known throughout the world. In fact, Indian dance is very likely to come into being through religious sacrificial rituals. The earliest professional dancers needed to show their dancing skill to please their gods during the process of sacrificial services. As an art form, dance in India has a history of at least 3,000 years. Dance is considered as a basic part of theater. The *Visnu Purana* created in the 2^nd century CE mentioned the title of a dance drama. Obviously, Indian dance had become much flourishing and mature before Bharatamuni wrote his *Natyasastra*. According to his work, dance was already an indispensable part then on all occasions of important celebrations. *Natyasastra* laid down rules and regulations for Indian classical dance, and is still the theoretical source of all types of classical dance in India now.

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The Sangeet Natak Academi (Music and Dance Academy), Indian national academy for performing arts, recognises eight distinctive traditional dances as Indian classical dance forms. Each form of Indian dance has developed its own unique skill along with social evolution in the past centuries. Although they originated from different parts of India and imbibed elements from other parts of the country, they still share some aesthetic principles, skill features, and subjects from Indian mythology. The eight major Indian classical dances include Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Odissi, Sattriya and Mohiniyattam.

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Six gandharvas depicted in the Amitābha Sūtra. They are seen playing guzheng, the long zither, konghou, the ancient Chinese harp, zhigong pipa, the straight-necked pipa, paixiao, a free reed mouth organ, and sheng, another free reed mouth organ, respectively.

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A carving of Shiva dancing

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Odissi dance form

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Kathak dance form

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**Bharatanatyam** is a classical dance originating from the state of Tamil Nadu in south India. Initially a dance performed by dancing girls in temples for worshiping gods, it was introduced into courts in the 16ᵗʰ century. In modern times, it developed in late 18ᵗʰ century or early 19ᵗʰ century. Following a short period of low ebb in 1910-1930, it revived rapidly and mounted the stage as a charming performing art. As a solo-dance, it is generally performed by a single female dancer who draws inspirations for her posture and movements from ancient Indian sculptures.

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**Kathak** is a type of Indian classical dance that originated from temples in north Indian states such as Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In ancient Indian temples, Brahmin priests used to narrate the stories of gods and goddesses from various *Puranas* with the assistance of songs and dances, they were known as *kathakar* or story-tellers, hence the term of kathak for the dance. After Muslims invaded India, Kathak disappeared temporarily from the scene. Later in the 17ᵗʰ century, it was restored by Mughal emperors, and the performance site was shifted from temples to courts accordingly. Meanwhile, it absorbed some features of Persian and Central Asian dances. Consequently, the influence of the Mughal music and dance brought about great change to the form of Kathak. The current form of the dance still contains elements of both Hindu and Islamic cultures.

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**Kathakali** is a classical dance originating from the state of Kerala in south India. The term Kathakali means story performance. It is virtually a highly stylised classical dance-drama which has followed the form and tradition of ancient Sanskrit plays. Its roots go back to 1,500 years ago and it has been prevalent for about 300 years in the southwest coast area of India. Subjects for the dance are mainly taken from *Mahabharata*, *Ramayana* and other Hindu mythology. It is often performed at open-air stages by temples in rural areas all through the night, on occasions of festivals, in particular. Dancers are all male wearing various coloured makeup on the face, more or less similar to that of the Beijing opera in China. High-ranking and gallant characters wear green facial makeup, queens and princess wear orange facial makeup, etc. Female characters are also played by men in disguise. The dancer’s costume and headgear are extremely elaborate. The recent developments in Kathakali include improved looks, refined gestures and added themes in addition to more ornate singing and precise drumming.

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Kathakali dance form

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Bharatnatyam dance form

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*Mohiniyattam dance form*

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*Manipuri dance form*

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*Odissi dance form*

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**Kuchipudi** is also a type of classical dance, originating from today’s Andhra Pradesh in south India in the 2^nd century BCE. It is named after a village in Krishna district by the Bay of Bengal. It is generally performed by local Brahmins who love this traditional dance form. Some stage rites are usually the prelude to the formal performance. Then characters come on to the stage one-by-one and make self-introductions with song and dance. The dancer’s ornaments are very rich.

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**Manipuri** is also a major type of classical dance originating from the state of Manipur at the foot of the Himalayas in north-eastern India. Initially, it was a kind of collective dance of the mountain people while they were holding religious rituals. It has developed its own specific aesthetic values and styles deeply rooted in local culture. Later on, it was much influenced by Vaisnavism and underwent some changes, and the themes of the dance began to center on the legendary love story of Krishna and Radha. As a purely religious dance, it has a reputation of one of the most chaste, softest and mildest dances in the world. Different from other Indian dance forms, Manipuri dancers never strike the ground hard with their feet. Movements of the body and feet and facial expressions in Manipuri dance are generally smooth, subtle and graceful.

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**Odissi** is one of the eight classical dance forms. It originated from the state of Orissa (present-day Odisha) in east India. According to archaeological evidences such as bas-reliefs found in hills near Bhubaneshwar, the capital of the state. It is most likely the oldest surviving dance form of India, and finds its mention in *Natyasastra*. Although it gradually declined under the colonial rule of the British, it has revived freshly since India gained independence. It is well-known for the dancer’s pose of the Tribhangi (three parts break), a skill learned from the Indian sculptures and other unique skills quite different from other classical Indian dance forms.

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**Sattriya** is also one type of principal classical dance form originating from the state of Assam in northeastern India. It was created by Srimanta Sankardeva, the founder of Vaisnavism in Assam in 15th century, and has remained a living tradition. It is usually performed as a significant part of one-act plays staged in monasteries. Although it has gradually become popular and won recognition in recent years, the dance now still continues to be performed for ritualistic and other purposes.

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**Mohiniyattam** is also a classical dance form originating in 16^th century from the state of Kerala in south India. It has become one of the eight Indian classical dance forms officially recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. The dance is very graceful and sensuous as well, and it is usually performed as solo recitals by women. The theme of the dance is religious love and devotion to God, namely Visnu or his incarnation Krishna. The female dancer adorns herself with white jasmine flowers and makes Mohiniyattam artists distinct from artists of other Indian dance forms.

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**Folk dance** is rich and full in India as a result of the existence of diversified religions, races, ethnic groups and tribes. On occasions such as harvest, weddings, people living in villages like to perform folk dances in groups for celebrations. These dances are rooted in religious and seasonal festivals. Since time immemorial, dance has become an inseparable part of their life. The styles of various folk dances vary greatly, but are generally related with people's work, changes of seasons, religions and rituals. Some dance movements are in imitation of nature and labour. Some are also very romantic. In a word, Indian folk dance is a great treasure-house with boundless dance resources. Every state in India has its own folk dance forms. Actually, most Indian classical dance forms with superb skill originated from folk dance.

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*Dunhuang mural painting of a dance performance from ‘Jile Jingbian’. It is located in cave number 112 of the Dunhuang grottoes in Gansu, China. The dancer in the painting has coloured ribbon draped around his shoulder, the abdomen is bare, he is barefoot, and is wearing an anklet with a bell.*

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Vajra dance performance by Tibetan ethnic group on the occasion of Buddhist religious assembly at Sichuan province, China.

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Holy deer dance at Kumbum (T'aer) monastery, Huangzhong county, Xining in Qinghai, China.ethnic group on the occasion of Buddhist religious assembly at Sichuan province, China.

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Indian Dance in China

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Since the Han Dynasty, Buddhism was gradually introduced into the east, and Indian dance began to spread to China. Within 2,000 years, Indian dance has influenced the Chinese palace and folk dance art directly or indirectly.

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**Sinicisation of Ancient Indian Buddhist dance** From the beginning of Northern and Southern Dynasties, then from Sui and Tang Dynasties to Qing Dynasty, with more than 1,000 years, all regions and nationalities in China have been keeping imitation, absorption, transformation and integration of Indian Buddhism dance, and creating different shapes and different styles of Chinese Buddhism dance, especially Dunhuang dance, folk Buddhism dance of Han nationality, Tibetan Buddhism dance and southern Buddhism dance. The popularity of Dunhuang dance can be seen in Dunhuang frescoes. Numerous dance styles on the frescoes provide important materials for contemporary artists to study the history and development of dance, and also give them the unlimited inspiration and enlightenment, enabling them to revive and create Dunhuang dance. Original shapes of *Apsara* and *Gandharva* on the frescoes are the dancer (*Apsara*) and musician (*Gandharva*) in the Hindu mythology. S-shape “small three musical form” in the dancing posture has the origin relation with S-shape “big three musical form” in Odissi. In early paintings, costumes of characters in the frescoes completely followed Indian costume, such as barefoot, topless, wearing jewellery, armlets, bracelets and anklets, coloured ribbon around the body, short skirt or knee-length pants, updo or long hair and so on. In the frescoes of the Middle Tang Dynasty, costumes of musicians changed to loose robe with top sleeve and musical instruments also began to cover local instruments like the flute and Sheng.

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After Buddhism was introduced into China, besides the temple, folk people also often performed Buddhism dance. During festivals or temple fair, there would be rich and colourful Buddhism dance performances. Like in Nantong and Hai'an in Jiangsu, the dance would be performed in Buddhism festivals such as lantern show on the lunar January 13, Guandi Temple Fair on July 13, Yaowang Fair, Ksitigarbha Fair and Avalokitesvara Fair. Floating River Lanterns was very popular for Han nationality. For example, Boluo Temple in Xixiang, Shaanxi would hold the Floating River Lanterns Buddhism sacrifice ceremony by dancing on the lunar July 15 every year.

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Peacock dance performance by Yang Liping

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Indian Bharatanatyam dancer Leela Samson

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Kamala Laxman with her sister during their performance in China.

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A group photo of Mrinalini Sarabhai's troupe visiting China.

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Tibetan Buddhism dances were commonly known as “Fawang dance”, “Tiaoqian”, “Tiaobuzha”, “Tiaogui” “Jingang dance”, etc. Tibetan dance involved multiple nationalities, with Tibetan and Mongolian dominating. Performers of this dance were lama who had become monks since childhood. They accepted the training of Buddhism dance according to the requirements, with “Chama”, “Lushen dance”, “Hayagriva dance” and “Qujiafawang” dance as the representatives.

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Southern Buddhism was commonly known as Hinayana, also called Theravada Buddhism, with Pali Buddhist scriptures as the basis. They were prevalent in Yunnan of China, Thailand and Burma, with Peacock dance, Eight-treasure flower dance, Garuda dance and Bai nationality Buddhism dance as the master works. Peacock dance named “Jialuoyong” or “Jialangluo” in Dai language, and spread in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture and Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan province. This dance would be performed in the grand Buddhism festivals and rally. Dance movement often imitated the peacock’s flying, spreading its tail, shaking its wings, spreading its wings, drinking water and play, etc. Contemporary dancers Dao Meilan and Yang Liping changed the dance and made it known at home and abroad.

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**Indian dancers’ visit to China** After China and India established diplomatic relations in the early 1950s, cultural exchanges between two countries were becoming more and more prosperous. In June 1955, 51 people of a cultural delegation led by A K Chandra, the vice-minister of Ministry of External Affairs of India brought rich music and dance performances to Chinese audiences. They performed Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kathakali and Naga. Eight Chinese dancers performed Kathakali under the guidance of the artists.

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In March and April, 1957, Kamala Lakshman sisters, the famous dancers of Bharatanatyam, visited China. Their performance received high praise from Chinese audience, and the famous writer Bingxin wrote the article *Impressions of Watching the Dance* to present to Lakshman sisters. In July and August, 1957, Uday Shankar, the founder of Indian modern dance, visited China, during the performance, he taught the "Dance of Bouncing the Ball" to Chinese dancer Zhang Jun.

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In October and November, 1978, after long-term interruption of India-China cultural exchange, an Indian dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai led the delegation to visit China. During the visit to China, she advised that China shall send students to study in her school. Later, Zhang Jun and Liu Youlan were sent by the government for studying abroad.

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In 1984, Rukmini Devi, the pioneer of revival movement of Indian Bharatanatyam led actors of Kalakshetra Dance Academy to China for performance, with Leela Samson accompanying. This is Rukmini Devi’s last visit to China, and then she died in February 1986. In the same year, Mamata Shankar, daughter of Uday Shankar came to China for performance, which received warm welcome by the audiences. In June 1990, Indian Manipuri dance troupe made performance in Beijing, making Chinese audiences see different Indian dance.

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In August 1991, Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Embassy of India in Beijing held the 50th anniversary commemoration of Rabindranath Tagore’s death. Indian dance troupe from Calcutta performed Tagore’s dance drama *The Kingdom of Cards* in Beijing, Fuzhou, Xiamen and other places. In 1992, Sunil Kothari, the critique of Indian dance visited China, and made a lecture on Indian dance in Embassy of India, Beijing. In May 1994, the first Indian Cultural Festival was held in Beijing. Indian dancer Singhajit Singh and his wife Charu performed Ras leela with special elegant style belonging to Manipuri in the opening ceremony. In October 1997, 20 people from Indian art troupe came to China for attending the Fifth Festival of Asian Arts.

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In January 2000, Birju Maharaj who was the master of Indian Kathak led the delegation to Beijing for participating in the Festival of Asian Arts. On May 1 of the same year, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations sent art troupe to China for performance.

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In October 2002, Leela Samson who was an Indian famous dancer of Bharatanatyam led Spanda dance troupe to Beijing for attending the Festival of Asian Arts, and made the performance in Hohhot, Baotou, Shanghai and Hangzhou etc. Meanwhile, at the invitation of professor Chen Ziming, she made performance in Central Conservatory of Music and made a lecture on Indian dance for the oriental class of Beijing Dance Academy. In the same year, Mallika Sarabhai led the delegation to China, and listened to the Bharatanatyam courses of oriental class in the Beijing Dance Academy.

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In 2004, Jayarama Rao, a famous dancer of Khuchipudi and his wife Vanashree Rao visited China together. Their performance in Beijing made Chinese audience feel refreshed. In 2007, Shovana Narayan who was honoured as the queen of Kathak performed Kathak in CPPCC auditorium in Beijing, intoxicating many audiences in Beijing.

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In 2008, Geeta Radhakrishna, the dancer of Mohiniattam made performance in Beijing at the invitation of Nirupama Rao, the Indian ambassador in China, with Indian Kathakali dance troupe accompanying. In the same year, Leela Samson visited China again, and made performance for the opening ceremony of Indian Tourism Culture Year. As the chief director, she brought a wonderful party composed of six schools of classical dance in India. These different styles of dance had distinctive characteristics, complementing each other. Such a grand Indian dance scene was first seen in China.

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In 2011, Ranjana Gauhar, the dancer of Odissi came to Beijing and made performance in the National Center for the Performing Arts and the Central Conservatory of Music. She also made a lecture on dance and her lecture was fascinating and very popular among the audiences. In the same year, at the invitation of the Central Conservatory of Music, two sons of Birju Maharaj, the king of Kathak, Jaikishan and Deepak made performances in Beijing.

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On January 15, 2012, Kiran Segal, an Odissi exponent, made performance of Odissi in Guangzhou, making the audience appreciate the beautiful exotic dancing art. In March, Rama Vaidyanathan, a famous contemporary dancer of Bharatanatyam in India, came to China from New

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Delhi, and made the performance in the National Center for the Performing Arts and the Central Conservatory of Music, respectively, receiving great response. In summer of the same year, Sonal Mansingh, the senior dancer of Bharatanatyam and Odissi came to Beijing for performance.

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In September 2008, Indian Cultural Center was founded in Beijing. Indian Council for Cultural Relations sent two teachers for teaching Chinese students. Dance teachers with the head of Ashok Chakravarti provided students with free courses every day, and provided them with performance opportunities in the festival celebrations.

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**Chinese dancers of Indian dance** Zhang Jun, the dancer of oriental dance, first introduced Indian dance to Chinese people systematically. With eight times of going to India to study, she not only learned seven schools of classical dance, also collected a large number of materials about folk dance. After returning to China, she widely imparted them on students, and successively taught in Beijing Dance Academy, China Oriental Performing Arts Group, Oriental Art Guidance Center and Guangzhou Dance School, with students throughout the world. In 1999, she released the teaching video of *Coursework of Bharatanatyam*, and in 2004, she wrote the book *Coursework of Bharatanatyam*. Her main dance works included “Dunhuang dance and Indian dance appreciation party”, dance “Western Charming”, “Colourful Foot Bells”, etc.

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In addition, in 1980s and 1990s, Liu Youlan, Zheng Yun, Li Jiang, Su Baohua, Zhao Shizhong, Jiang Dong and Merry P Ahmad also studied in India. After returning to China, they all taught Indian dance in their respective fields. Liu Youlan taught in Beijing Dance Academy. Zheng Yun first learned Bharatanatyam from Leela Samson in India, and then learned Odissi from Madhavi Mudgal and became the first Chinese holding solo dance party in India. After returning to China, she worked in Shanghai Opera House, and now is still teaching Indian dance. Li Jiang was the professor of Guangxi Arts Institute and head of international office. Su Baohua was the choreographer of China Oriental Performing Arts Group. Zhao Shizhong conducted comparative research on Kathak and tap dance. Jiang Dong was the deputy director of institute of dance of Chinese National Academy of Arts, and also the famous critic of dance, with the book *The General Theory of Indian Dance*. Merry P Ahmad learned Odissi in India, and opened courses of Indian dance in Xinjiang Arts University after returning to China.

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Under the hard training of teachers, young dancers of Indian dance began to emerge. Lin Ping, Zhao Xiaozhen and Li Mowen have ever been invited by Indian president to India for study together with Zhang Jun and Su Baohua, and they were honoured as “child prodigy of dance”. Jin Shanshan has even gone to India for four times to learn Indian dance. She successively learned from Birju Maharaj and Leela Samson, and was honoured as the “descendant of Bharatanatyam in China”. Yu Feifei and Song Jing were Zhang Jun’s postgraduate students, with the research direction of Indian dance. Later, Zhang Hao also learned Bharatanatyam and Kathak in India, and Li Qianqian learned Odissi from Madhavi Mudgal.

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Lanzhou University in Gansu Province, China commemorating the 150ᵗʰ Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore through the performance of Tagore's play, 'Chitrangada'.

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Modern Chinese art troupe has ever rehearsed Indian musical drama on a large scale for three times. The first time was in 1957. To celebrate the fifth anniversary of China-India Friendship Association, China Youth Art Theatre India performed poetic drama *Sakuntala* of great poet Kalidasa. At that time, Indian dancer Kamala Lakshman visited China, and also participated in the dance rehearsal. The second time was in 1981. The China Youth Art Theatre made the new choreography of *Sakuntala*, and Zhang Jun was invited to do it. An Indian expert commented that Indian people didn’t find that it was Chinese people that performed Indian dance. The third time was in 2012. Lanzhou University rehearsed Tagore’s drama *Chitra*, with Jin Shanshan as choreographer and it was considered to be “the most Indian local performance of Tagore drama” by the then ambassador.

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(*Jin Shanshan*)

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