A Kathak dance recital by Uma Dogra and students
If you have wanderlust and happen to visit India, one of the ‘must-dos’ on your list should be watching a dance performance. Whether Bollywood or classical, we Indians love our dance. A birth, wedding, or in some communities even death, we will find an occasion to shake a leg.
Each state in India has its own special dance form – from the exuberant Bhangra of Punjab to the graceful Odissi of Orissa. While we have more folk dances than we can count, only eight classical dance forms are recognized.
So, for this week’s photo challenge on WordPress, I decided to engage in wanderlust simply by revisiting some of the dance performances I have seen from various states of the country. Each picture here identifies the associated dance form and if that sufficiently piques your interest, you can watch a video on the Indian classical dance forms by clicking here.
A Mohiniyattam dance performance by Navarasa Dance Academy (students of Sushama Gopinath)
A Bharatanatyam performance by Lata Surendra
Jhelum Paranjape, founder of Smitalaya, performs an Odissi dance
A lesser known dance form Yakshagana, strongly associated with Karnataka state
Kathakali, Kerala state’s most well known dance form
Chhau is popular in the states of Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand
Darshana Jhaveri (lady to left) performs a Manipuri dance with another troupe member
Prateesha Suresh performs Sattriya, an Assamese dance that she worked to promote as a classical dance form
Wikipedia has a list of these Indian dance forms and the popular folk dances find a mention here
Even Huffington Post carried a post today with some pictures of Indian dances here
Here is a video to help with the basics of Indian classical dances
