Articles
Ancient Dancing - Indian
A pre-digested simple history of the Dance of India
A. Prelude.
Middle Earth. As humans swarmed across the ancient world, millions settled in warm semitropical India and China, such that 1/3rd of the entire world’s population lived there.
Mud The people lived firstly along the fertile floodplains of the muddy Indus river about 3000BC, and later spread to the Ganges, and southward. The Ganges is the 2nd muddiest river in the world (1st is Yellow river, China), and carries 1600 million tonnes of Himalayan silt each year. Mud was the basis for huge populations, it fed the farms which fed the people. People grew rice and chickens from China, wheat and farm animals from the Middle East. There was limited trade with the Middle East, Greece, Rome, eg Indigo dye, and strong sea trade to Burma and Indonesia / south east Asia, eg sandalwood from Timor.
Indus Valley Civilization. The first peoples, a dark curly haired Aboriginal type, lived along the Indus river, and developed a sophisticated society from 3000 - 1500BC. They had piped sewerage systems, a common language, and travelled/traded from Egypt to Mesopotamia (Iraq).
Society The original aboriginal religion was fertility based male & female gods. Later India became Hindu, one supreme god (Vishnu), several helper gods, and souls that recycled up or down life’s scale (human & animal) depending on good conduct and devotion. Like the Polynesians, there was a Caste system of social standing, from the highest down to the “untouchables”. Hinduism spread across SE Asia, along with Indian culture, dance, and
Gypsies Ancient India’s “gift” to the world are the Gypsies. Over 1000 years ago and again in 1320AD, groups of the second peoples of India, the Aryans, began drifting out over the Iranian plateau, some to Egypt, then Africa, Spain, to Europe; and others via Turkey, Balkans, to western Europe. Some were war victims, one Arab raid took home half a million Aryan slaves! Other went willingly with Alexander the “great” on his Middle East rampages of slaughter.
Genghis Khan Whilst Richard the Lionheart, King of England, and his Crusaders were battling with Salah-din for control of Jerusalem (and lost), far away in Eastern Siberia / Mongolia, grew a young man who would change the world. Genghis Khan became a fierce warrior and leader of the Mongolian people. With a small but highly mobile cavalry of “screaming barbarians”, in the early 1200’sAD, he and sons conquered Korea, China, Cambodia, Russia, Middle East, and western Europe to the Danube river! They created the largest kingdom ever in the entire history of mankind, and changed the course of countless civilizations in and adjacent to the kingdom.
Mongols & Moguls When Michelangelo was painting the Sistine chapel and building the Medici Tombs, the Khan Mongol army came through Afghanistan and seriously invaded India in 1526. It was violent and decisive. India became part of the world’s greatest empire.
B. Dance
Old Dance The unique style of Indian dance, bent knees, bells, hand gestures, and costume style, was well established in 3000BC (as seen in statuettes, paintings etc). Like other cultures, it was closely allied to religious practices. There was some cross pollination with Mid Eastern dance over time. Then in the last millennium BC a monumental event occurred in dance.
Trouble in Paradise. Ancient aeons ago, Lord Brahma, a main God, and his helpers, created earth and man. He created “4 Scriptures” or sets of instructions defining the good path that man should follow in Hindu life. The 4th Scripture was about Dance, and appeared about 1500BC. Unfortunately only the higher caste people knew about the instructions. Moral decline and evil brewed in the lower castes and gradually the whole society was threatened.
The Fifth Scripture. Lord Brahma created a “Fifth Scripture”, incorporating key issues from the previous 4. It was vetted and embellished by Lord Shiva, the deity of Dance.
NATYA SHASTRA. While Euclid was writing his famous treatise on maths and geometry, Bharata Muni wrote all the 5th Scripture instructions into a book, about 200BC. The book - the Natya Shastra, was written in Sanskrit language, and contained 36 chapters. Under the mantle of holy living and praising the gods, it encompassed the correct use of words, mime/acting, music, song, emotions, Dance, detailed theatre design, and costumes.
Classical Indian Dance The broad sweep of Indian dance is about 5000years old, the second oldest in the world. The Classical dance, fully documented and stabilised by the Nat.Shas, is the oldest classical dance in the world, performing for over 2000 years! The wisest teachers and centres of learning were in the State of Tamil Nadu (southern tip of India). Having been defined by Brahma, the dance quickly became part of Hindu religious rites. Dancers performed in Temples, they could become Priestesses of dance, and often remained celibate as the “dancing Nuns of Hindu“. This original sacred style is called Bharata Natyam, in honour of “Moses” Bharata Muni, and of king Bharata an ancient legendary monarch.
Style The dance typically has a foot stamping rhythm, ankle bells, bent knees, exquisite hand gestures, and beautiful beautifully subtle eye / eyebrow / neck movements. Costumes are colourful and heavily stitched.
Kathak Evil fell upon the North Indian dancers with the invasion of the Khan Mongols. Dancers were “enticed” from the temples with money, jewels, social status, and concubineship. Dance exhibitions and competitions were held regularly in the royal courts.
Music The Nat.Shas. defines 22 notes in the Indian octave. India invented constant melody - variable beat music, and exported it to Middle East. It is maddening to listen to, but don’t try to understand, just let it soak in. A typical dance band will have a “singer” (more like a chant), drums - both solid resonators and membrane drums, flutes, plucked string instrument (eg Sitar), and a bowed string instrument (like a violin). Rhythm is set by the drums and stamping of the Dancers’ feet, and sometimes by subtle gestures from each other.
Paradise Lost Syrians, Jews, Portuguese, and Dutch established non invasive trading settlements over the centuries. The Portuguese influence of 1500AD is still seen in eastern Indian dances - dresses with hoops, and long sleeves! British people established a relatively benign colonial rule in the 1800’s and respected the existing social order. However European moralists deplored Indian Dance and suppressed it wherever they could. Temple dance and Kathak dance were almost destroyed. As happened to the Polynesians, vast volumes of dance lore were lost forever. However fragments of dance were kept alive by teachers in Tamil Nadu, and in
and Found. The 2nd revolution. In the early 1800’s, 4 Indian choreographers, the “Tanjore Quartet”, set out to rescue Indian Dance from the abyss of extinction. Through their heroic efforts, the remnants of dance were quietly rescued, revitalised, and reorganised.
Australia Melbourne dancer Louise Lightfoot studied in India and brought out soloists and troupes in the 1940-50,s. There followed a host of visiting companies over the next 50 years to every major city in Australia. Teachers came and established in capital cities.
Bollywood (Bombay/Hollywood) is the hugely popular Hindi language film industry in India. Cinema came to India in 1896 with the Lumiere brothers tour. India quickly adopted the photographic method, and produced its first film 3 years later. The first major movie was in 1913, first sound movie 1931.
Eyes have it If you watch Indian dance, get up close and watch the detail. The Natya Shastra
A.M.Cole 2006 |
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