Nritya

{{short description|Sanskrit word for Indian dance form}} thumb|260px|Nritya means dance in the Indian tradition. '''Nritya''' ({{Langx|sa|नृत्य}}, {{IAST3|nṛtya}}), also referred to as '''nritta''', '''natana''' or '''natya''', is "dance, act on the stage, act, gesticulate, play" in the Indian traditions.<ref name=nrityabrit>[https://www.britannica.com/art/nritya Nritya], Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref><ref name=mmwnritya>[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MW72Scan/2014/web/webtc/servepdf.php?page=0515 नृत्], Monier Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, page 515</ref> It is sometimes subdivided into two forms: ''nritta'' or pure dance, where the expressionless movements of a dancer play out the rhythms and phrases of the music; and ''nritya'' or expressive dance, where the dancer includes facial expression and body language to portray mood and ideas with the rhythmic movements.<ref name=nrityabrit/>

==Overview==

''Nritya'' is broadly categorized as one of three parts of Sangita, the other two being ''gita'' (vocal music, song) and ''vadya'' (instrumental music).<ref name="Rowell2015p13">{{cite book|author=Lewis Rowell|title=Music and Musical Thought in Early India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5_UCgAAQBAJ |year=2015| publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-73034-9| page=13}}</ref><ref name="Kunst2013p88">{{cite book|author=Jaap Kunst|title=Hindu-Javanese Musical Instruments|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ytLoCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88|year= 2013|publisher= Springer Science|isbn=978-94-011-9185-2|pages=88 with footnote 26}}</ref><ref name="ArnoldNettl2000p321">{{cite book|author1=Alison Arnold|author2=Bruno Nettl|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC&pg=PA321|year=2000|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-8240-4946-1|pages=19–20}}</ref> These ideas appear in the Vedic literature of Hinduism such as the ''Aitareya Brahmana'', and in early post-Vedic era Sanskrit texts such as the ''Natya Shastra'', ''Panchatantra'', ''Malvikagnimitra'' and ''Kathasaritsagara''.

Nritya and Nata appear in Vedic era literature. For example, Section 4.104 of the ''Unadi Sutras'' mentions Nata as "dancer, mime, actor".<ref name=mmwnritya/><ref>[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MW72Scan/2014/web/webtc/servepdf.php?page=0466 नट्], Monier Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, page 466 {{cite book|author=Friedrich Max Müller|title=A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature|year=1860|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00mlle |publisher=Williams and Norgate|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00mlle/page/245 245]–246}}</ref> Panini too mentions the terms Nritya and Nartaka respectively as dance and dancer, in his treatise on Sanskrit grammar.<ref>{{cite book|author=Manohar Laxman Varadpande|title=History of Indian Theatre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyxOHOCVcVkC |year=1987|publisher=Abhinav|isbn=978-81-7017-221-5|pages=78–79}}</ref>

{{Quote box | bgcolor=#FFE0BB |align=right |quote= '''Nrtya''' <poem> It is the spirit of both eternity and time. It is the spirit of both man and woman. It is the Purusha and Prakriti, expression of the evolution of the movement, a truly creative force that has come down to us from ages. This embodiment of sound and rhythm, which creates poetry of spiritual expression is called dance or ''nritya''. </poem> |source =— Rukmini Devi Arundale<ref>{{cite book|author1=Tanvi Bajaj|author2=Swasti Shrimali Vohra|title=Performing Arts and Therapeutic Implications |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R8VcCgAAQBAJ |year=2015|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-32571-0|page=6}}</ref>}} The term Nritya appears in all major classical Indian dance forms as one form of their repertoire, inspired by the guidelines of the ''Natya Shastra''. These are ''Nritta'', ''Nritya'' and ''Natya'':<ref name=meduri1>{{cite journal | last=Meduri | first=Avanthi | title=Bharatha Natyam-What Are You? | journal=Asian Theatre Journal | publisher=University of Hawaii Press | volume=5 | issue=1 | year=1988 | pages=3–4 | doi=10.2307/1124019 | jstor=1124019 }}</ref>

*The ''Nritta'' performance is an abstract, fast and rhythmic aspect of the dance.<ref name=koskoff955/> The dancer performs pure dance steps by using ''adavu''. In simple words, we can say that ''Nritta'' means pure classical dance.<ref name=meduri1/><ref name="Descutner2010p45">{{cite book|author=Janet Descutner|title=Asian Dance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8tCYjXOtkdgC |year=2010|publisher=Infobase|isbn=978-1-4381-3078-1|pages=45–46}}</ref> *The ''Nritya'' is a slower and significant aspect of the dance that attempts to communicate feelings, storyline particularly with spiritual themes in Hindu dance traditions.<ref name=koskoff955>{{cite book|author=Ellen Koskoff|title=The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=73MO0eiQD_EC&pg=PA955 |year=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-99404-0 |pages=955 }}</ref> In a ''nritya'', the dance-acting expands to include silent expression of words through gestures and body motion set to musical notes. The actor articulates a legend or a spiritual message. This part of the repertoire is more than sensory enjoyment, and it aims to engage the emotions and mind of the viewer.<ref name=meduri1/><ref name="Descutner2010p45"/> *The ''Natyam'' is a play, typically a team performance,<ref name=kjayakrishnan25>Kavitha Jayakrishnan (2011), [https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/6356 Dancing Architecture: the parallel evolution of Bharatanātyam and South Indian Architecture], MA Thesis, Awarded by University of Waterloo, Canada, page 25</ref> but can be acted out by a solo performer where the dancer uses certain standardized body movements to indicate a new character in the underlying story. A ''Natyam'' incorporates the elements of a ''Nritya''.<ref name=meduri1/>{{Sfn|Reginald Massey|2004|pp=33-38, 83-84, 207-214}}<ref name="NettlStone1998p516">{{cite book|author1=Bruno Nettl|author2=Ruth M. Stone|author3=James Porter|display-authors=etal|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC&pg=PA516|year=1998|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-8240-4946-1 |pages=516–521}}</ref>

==See also== *Indian classical dance *''Natya shastra'' *''Sangita Ratnakara''

==References== {{reflist}}

== Bibliography == * {{cite book | last = Ambrose | first = Kay | title = Classical Dances and Costumes of India | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan | year = 1984 }} *{{cite book |author=Ragini Devi|title=Dance Dialects of India|url=https://archive.org/details/dancedialectsofi0000ragi |url-access=registration|year=1990 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0674-0}} *{{cite book|author=Natalia Lidova|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |doi=10.1093/obo/9780195399318-0071 |title= Natyashastra }} *{{cite book|author=Natalia Lidova |title=Drama and Ritual of Early Hinduism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TKarwqJJP0C |date=1994 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1234-5 }} * {{cite journal | last= Williams|first=Drid| title=In the Shadow of Hollywood Orientalism: Authentic East Indian Dancing|url= http://jashm.press.illinois.edu/12.3/12-3IntheShadow_Williams78-99.pdf |journal=Visual Anthropology| volume=17|issue=1 |year=2004|pages=69–98 |publisher= Routledge |doi=10.1080/08949460490274013|s2cid=29065670}} * {{cite book |author=Tarla Mehta | title=Sanskrit Play Production in Ancient India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l7naMj1UxIkC | year=1995| publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1057-0 }} * {{cite book|author=Reginald Massey|title=India's Dances: Their History, Technique, and Repertoire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6MJ8jbHqIwC |year=2004|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-434-9 }} *{{cite book |author= Emmie Te Nijenhuis |author-link=Emmie te Nijenhuis |title=Indian Music: History and Structure |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NrgfAAAAIAAJ |year=1974|publisher= BRILL Academic|isbn=90-04-03978-3 }} *{{cite book| author=Kapila Vatsyayan |title=Bharata, the Nāṭyaśāstra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zKW1PAAACAAJ |year=2001|publisher=Sahitya Akademi |isbn=978-81-260-1220-6}} *{{cite book| author=Kapila Vatsyayan |title=Classical Indian dance in literature and the arts |year=1977 |publisher=Sangeet Natak Akademi |oclc= 233639306}}, [http://library.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/toc/z2008_2719.pdf Table of Contents] *{{cite book| author=Kapila Vatsyayan |title=Indian classical dance |year=1974 |publisher=Sangeet Natak Akademi |oclc= 2238067 }} *{{cite book| author=Kapila Vatsyayan |title=Aesthetic theories and forms in Indian tradition |year=2008 |publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal |oclc= 286469807| isbn= 978-8187586357}} *{{cite book| author=Kapila Vatsyayan |title=Dance In Indian Painting |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=58fUibaZdGYC |publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=978-81-7017-153-9}} *{{cite journal | author =Wallace Dace | title=The Concept of "Rasa" in Sanskrit Dramatic Theory | journal=Educational Theatre Journal | volume=15 | issue=3 | year=1963 | pages=249–254 | jstor=3204783 | doi=10.2307/3204783}} *{{cite book|author1=Farley P. Richmond|author2=Darius L. Swann|author3=Phillip B. Zarrilli|title=Indian Theatre: Traditions of Performance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OroCOEqkVg4C|year=1993|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0981-9}}

Category:Theatre of India Category:Musical theatre in India Category:Cultural history of India