The bases of the major dances of India go way back to
other classical works in the form of Sanskrit texts like the Natya Shastra with
some modifications. This material is roughly dated to between 200 BCE and 200
CE with its credited author being Bharata Muni, an ancient theatrologist and
musicologist. Its content includes the theory of rasa, the concept of bhava,
and the many forms of expression (including bodily positions, gesticulations,
steps, acting methods) to the theory of Tandava dance the attributes of all of
which may be found in Indian classical dances.
The origins of the Kathakali
may be traced to as far back as the 1st millennium CE or even before
that with uncertain marks that point to a beginning of temple and folk arts. It
actually started some 400 years ago in a town called Travancore in a southwestern
state, Kerala.
This dance form used to follow a tradition that saw
male dancers as performers. Modern versions of the Kathakali have female performers as part of their groups. In
addition, a marker of its contemporariness are stories, while not fairly
recent, are thoroughly recognizable; such as those of Shakespeare or those from
other religions.
,The beginnings of Bharatanatyam
go back to the presentation of the dance in the courts referred to as Sadir, among other names. Another
related performance is the temple worship, devadasis,
important in the rituals as part of services in these religious venues. The
tradition of music and dance in families performing devadasis along with dance masters called nattuvanars was steadily sustained through the reception of
royalties.
The bharatanatyam
as a dance form persisted in the context of a temple with principles based on
the Natya Shastra. However, the Northern part of India saw a decline in the
performances of this particular dance because of foreign invasions which left
the people with dances of a mixture type. On the contrary, the people of
Southern India were able to preserve the dance through royal patronage and the devadasi system.
Bharatanatyam greatly suffered under the British rule.
The natives were convinced that the traditional art form was inferior to that
of the Western introductions and this led to the decline in support from the
kings and an overall change in impression that even went as far as claiming
performances were borderline prostitution. By the 20th century, with
the added campaigns and propaganda of foreign social reformists who took
advantage of the shift in perspectives towards the classical art form, the bharatanatyam was seemingly wiped out
even in places it was most prominent in.
But, there were families that persevered in the
preservation of the Bharatanatyam, at all costs. The recuperation of the dance
tradition was at the hands of people coming from different backgrounds. There
were people from the West who were interested with the arts of India, the devadasi people who learned both the
worship dance and bharatanatyam, and
the freedom fighters of the place. Some lawyers were practitioners themselves and
they helped in reforming the image of Bharatanatyam.
There was also a surge in youth advocates that aided in the possibility for
sustainability in the future, then. The sudden swell in awareness towards the
dance caused the continuation of trainings for it. Soon, Bharatanatyam became a popular and far reaching Indian classical
dance form. In time, it gained international acclaim.