The Role of Indian Dances on Indian Culture

Dances in traditional Indian culture permeated all facets of life, but its outstanding function was to give symbolic expression to abstract religious ideas. The close relationship between dance and religion began very early in Hindu thought, and numerous references to dance include descriptions of its performance in both secular and religious contexts. This combination of religious and secular art is reflected in the field of temple sculpture, where the strictly iconographic representation of deities often appears side-by-side with the depiction of secular themes. Dancing, as understood in India, is not a mere spectacle or entertainment, but a representation, by means of gestures, of stories of gods and heroes-thus displaying a theme, not the dancer. Classical dance and theater constituted the exoteric worldwide counterpart of the esoteric wisdom of the Vedas.

The tradition of dance uses the technique of conveying without words different kinds of feelings and emotions, the abiding ones and the transient ones. It reflects the gestures and actions of all beings, from the gods high above to the animals and flowers below, from the circling of the stars to the melodies of the winds and the murmur of the waters. One visualizes the history of the world through the victories and defeats of superhuman beings. We witness the happiness and the bereavement of lovers, their longing for each other, and their happy union; share in the lofty experiences of the saint when he overcomes the temptation of the senses and achieves the serenity of perfection; experience the joy of nature, thrilled by the beneficent approach of the rainy season, as one watches the dancer perform the dance of the peacock.

Dance recitals open with an invocation followed by compositions of increasing intricacy. The songs have simple lines, and each phrase is repeated in a variety of cadences. The dancer expresses each phrase in creative ways, trying to find the most elegant and moving way of translating the simple, singing phrases into a diversity of charming movements. During the musical interludes or cadenza, the dancer executes pure dance sequences ornamenting the song. The gestures and the steps of the dancer inspire the souls of the onlookers with the feelings they portray, just as opera singers in arias. The dancer's gestures mirror the attitudes of life throughout the visible universe and the human soul.