My Science School

In Balinese mythology, Barong is a prominent character taken the form of a lion, regarded as the King of the Spirits who represents Virtue. Barong is seen as ‘a guardian angel’. Opposing Good is represented by another mythical creature called Rangda (‘widow’ in Javanese), the Queen of Demons. Rangda leads an army of evil witches against the leader of the forces of Good. As a mirror of life, the Barong Dance portrays the two characters involved in a never-ending battle.

Balinese people believe each region has its own protective spirit for its forests and lands. For each region, Barong is modeled after a different animal. Barong Ket (Lion Barong) is the most common type found in almost every part of the Island. While Barong Buntut is a type of Barong which only features its front, usually performed by a single dancer. Other types of Barong include Barong Landung (Giant Barong), Barong Celeng (Boar Barong), Barong Macan (Tiger Barong), Barong Naga (Dragon/Serpent Barong).

Regular Barong dance performances can be found in many places in Bali, however, the most popular are performed by the Batu Bulan villagers in the district of Gianyar, or at Kesiman, Denpasar.

 

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Kabuki, traditional Japanese popular drama with singing and dancing performed in a highly stylized manner. A rich blend of music, dance, mime, and spectacular staging and costuming, it has been a major theatrical form in Japan for four centuries. The term kabuki originally suggested the unorthodox and shocking character of this art form. In modern Japanese, the word is written with three characters: ka, signifying “song”; bu, “dance”; and ki, “skill.”

Traditionally, a constant interplay between the actors and the spectators took place in the Kabuki theatre. The actors frequently interrupted the play to address the crowd, and the latter responded with appropriate praise or clapped their hands according to a prescribed formula. They also could call out the names of their favourite actors in the course of the performance. The plays often present conflicts involving such religious ideas as the transitory nature of the world (from Buddhism), and the importance of duty (from Confucianism), as well as more general moral sentiments. Tragedy occurs when morality conflicts with human passions. 

 

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Odissi is indigenous to Orissa in eastern India. It is predominantly a dance for women, with postures that replicate those found in temple sculptures. Based on archaeological findings, odissi is belived to be the oldest of the surviving Indian classical dances. Odissi is a very complex and expressive dance, with over fifty mudras (symbolic hand gestures) commonly used.

Initially called 'Odra-Nritya,' Odissi is a dance form that's not just popular in India but also appreciated all over the world. It is a perfect example of great body movements, expressions, and gestures. Its performance collection includes an invocation, nrita, nritya, natya, and moksha.

The themes of this dance come from Vaishnavism and others associated with Hindu gods and goddesses like Shiva, Surya and Shakti.

On top of all this, jewellery that is mostly silver unlike other dance attires that use gold, adds to the charm of the whole dance form. The waistband is another must-add.

This particular dance form is now globally recognised and it entered into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2012 after 560 Indian Odissi dancers gave a performance together to create a new record.

 

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It's generally agreed that ballet began as a formalized court dance that originated in 15th-century western Europe, first in Italy, then, as Italian nobles and French nobles married, spread to the French courts. Catherine de Medici was an early supporter of the dance and funded early ballet companies in the court of her husband, King Henry II of France. 

In the 19th century, ballet migrated to Russia, giving us classics like "The Nutcracker," "Sleeping Beauty" and "Swan Lake." The Russians also contributed importantly to the evolution of ballet technique and with that the dominance of highly skilled female ballet dancers or ballerinas.

Defining ballet, on the other hand, is difficult unless one creates a definition that emphasizes its history rather than a specific choreographic vocabulary. What we know as ballet today, which is the neoclassical ballet pioneered by Balanchine, involves dance techniques that bear only the remotest resemblance to the dances that evolved as "ballet" in the Italian and French courts. 

In the 21st-century, important ballet choreographers now incorporate techniques from various "non-balletic" sources. But, although defining it may be difficult, somehow we have a reliable understanding of what is ballet and what is not when we actually see it being danced. 

 

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Flamenco, form of song, dance, and instrumental (mostly guitar) music commonly associated with the Andalusian Roma (Gypsies) of southern Spain. (There, the Roma people are called Gitanos.) The roots of flamenco, though somewhat mysterious, seem to lie in the Roma migration from Rajasthan (in northwest India) to Spain between the 9th and 14th centuries. 

Flamenco dancers, known as bailaores and bailaoras, are serious and passionate. Typical of flamenco dance, a dancer will often stand motionless and free of expression for the first few moments of a song.

As the dancer begins to feel the music, the dancer might begin a steady beat of loud hand clapping. Then, as emotion builds, the dancer will begin a passionate dance. The dancing often involves fierce stomping, sometimes made louder with percussion attachments on the shoes, and graceful arm movements. Castanets are sometimes held in the hands for clicking, and folding fans are occasionally used for visual impact.

 

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Tango is one of the most influential and famous dances of the modern history, originating from the streets of 18th century Buenos Aires in Argentina and Montevideo in Uruguay as the favorite dance of the European immigrants, former slaves, working and lower classes of people. With the rich history, numerous types and styles, and incredible appeal, tango dance remains one of the most popular dances in the entire world.

First historical record of the word “tango” can be found in the government proclamation in Argentina dated to 1789, in which authorities place a ban on “tango” musical gatherings that were frequented by slaves, lower classes of free people living in the port areas of Buenos Aires. The commonplace use of the word Tango in Argentina gained traction around 100 years later, near the very end of 19th century.

Music and dance elements of tango are popular in activities related to gymnastics, figure skating, synchronized swimming, etc., because of its dramatic feeling and its cultural associations with romance.

Tango appears in different aspects of society: Regular milongas and special festivals. A very famous festival is the Tango Buenos Aires Festival y Mundial in Buenos Aires. On a regional level there are also many festivals inside and outside of Argentina. One local festival outside Argentina is Buenos Aires in the Southern Highlands in Australia.

 

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Samba, ballroom dance of Brazilian origin, popularized in western Europe and the United States in the early 1940s. 

In Brazil, away from the ballrooms, an older, very African type of samba is also danced. Sometimes called batuque, it is a kind of group dance, done either in circles with a soloist or in double lines.

Most steps are danced with a slight downward bouncing or dropping action. This action is created through the bending and straightening of the knees, with bending occurring on the beats of 1 and 2, and the straightening occurring between. However, unlike the bouncing of, e.g., Polka, there is no considerable bobbing. Also, Samba has a specific hip action, different from that in other ballroom Latin dances (Rumba and Cha-Cha-Cha).

The ballroom samba is danced to music in 2/4 or 4/4 time. It uses several different rhythmic patterns in its figures, with cross-rhythms being a common feature.

 

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The contemporary salsa sound coming out of Cuba is called‚ timba. It’s a fast tempo salsa with a strong afro-cuban influence. Songs will often follow a traditional rumba structure – start slow, break into a core salsa rhythm, then settle into a beautiful call and response vocal pattern. The backing vocalists keep the standard response running while the lead vocalist improvises.

Cuban dancers have a lot of fun at these times – they pull back from a close embrace and launch into rhythmic middle body shudders and amazing buttock trembles ‚ all movements derived from afro-cuban rumba.

Cubans call their salsa dance style ‘casino’. Cuban style salsa differs from the north american salsa styles in that it is ‘circular’ rather than linear. The man constantly moves around the woman in a circular dynamic, checking her out and showing her off. 

 

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Break dancing, energetic form of dance, popularized by African Americans and U.S. Latinos, that includes stylized footwork and athletic moves such as spinning on the knees, hands, or head. Break dancing originated in New York City during the late 1960s and early 1970s from martial arts moves developed by street gangs.

The term break refers to the particular rhythms and sounds produced by deejays by mixing sounds from records to produce a continuous dancing beat. The technique was pioneered by DJ Kool Herc (Clive Campbell), a Jamaican deejay in New York who mixed the percussion breaks from two identical records. By playing the breaks repeatedly and switching from one record to the other, Kool Herc created what he called “cutting breaks.”

Break dancing had an enormous influence on modern dance styles, and offshoots of it were performed in many music and especially rap videos as well as in live concerts by popular artists such as Britney Spears.

 

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Bharatanatyam, a pre-eminent Indian classical dance form presumably the oldest classical dance heritage of India is regarded as mother of many other Indian classical dance forms. Conventionally a solo dance performed only by women, it initiated in the Hindu temples of Tamil Nadu and eventually flourished in South India. Theoretical base of this form traces back to ‘Natya Shastra’, the ancient Sanskrit Hindu text on the performing arts.

The style of dressing of a Bharatanatyam dancer is more or less similar to that of a Tamil Hindu bride. She wears a gorgeous tailor-made sari that consists of a cloth specially stitched in pleats that falls in the front from the waist and when the dancer performs spectacular footwork that include stretching or bending her knees, the cloth widens up like a hand fan. The sari worn in a special manner is well complimented with traditional jewellery that include the ones that adorn her head, nose, ear and neck and vivid face make-up specially highlighting her eyes so that audience can view her expressions properly. Her hair neatly plaited in conventional way is often beautified with flowers. A jewellery belt adorns her waist while musical anklets called ghunghru made of leather straps with small metallic bells attached to it are wrapped in her ankles. Her feet and fingers are often brightened with henna colour so as to highlight gestures of her hands.

The Bharatnatyam dancer is accompanied by a nattuvanar (or taladhari) that is a vocalist who generally conducts the whole performance, a part often executed by the guru. The person can also play the cymbals or any other instrument. The music associated with Bharatanatyam is in South India’s Carnatic style and instruments played comprise of cymbals, the flute, a long pipe horn called nagaswaram, a drum called mridangam and veena. The verses recited during performance are in Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu.

 

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Kathakali is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colorful make-up, costumes and face masks that the traditionally male actor-dancers wear.  Kathakali is a Hindu performance art in the Malayalam-speaking southwestern region of India (Kerala).

The traditional themes of the Kathakal? are folk mythologies, religious legends and spiritual ideas from the Hindu epics and the Puranas. The vocal performance has traditionally been performed in Sanskritised Malayalam. In modern compositions, Indian Kathakali troupes have included women artists, as well as adapted Western stories and plays such as those by Shakespeare.

‘Kathakali’ incorporates the most intricate make-up code, costume, face masks, head dress and brightly painted faces among all Indian classical dance forms. Its unique costume, accessories and make-up complimented with spectacular performance, music and lightings bringing life to the characters of the great epics and legends attracts and flabbergasts both young and the old thus creating a surreal world around. The make-up code followed in ‘Kathakali’ conventionally typifies the characters of the acts categorising them as gods, goddesses, saints, animals, demons, and demonesses among others. This classification of characters according to Zarrilli reflects the three Gunas namely sattva (goodness, virtuous, harmonious, constructive), rajas (passion, egoistic, dynamic, action, aimless), and tamas (darkness, viciousness, chaotic, destructive) of the ‘Gu?a’ theory of personalities that originated in the age-old ‘Samkhya’ school of Hindu philosophy.

 

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Kuchipudi an established dance form originated in Andhra Pradesh. This classical dance is named after a village Kuchelapuram, 65 Kms from Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh and became popular due to the patronage of the Brahmins practicing it.

Kuchipudi is known for its impressive, quick footwork, dramatic characterization, expressive eye movements and spirited narrative. It is a blend of tandava and lasya elements. A distinctive feature of this dance is the execution on a brass plate and moving the plate to the accompaniment of carnatic music. The Kuchipudi performer apart from being a dancer and actor has to be skilled in Sanskrit and Telugu languages, music and manuscripts of the performance.

The Kuchipudi dancers wear light make-up and ornaments like the Rakudi (head ornament), Chandra Vanki (arm band), Adda Bhasa and Kasina Sara (necklace). A long plait is decorated with flowers and jewelry. The ornaments are made of light wood called Boorugu. The costumes are similar to the one worn in Bharatnatyam- The saree is worn with a fan shaped cloth in front and a Pallu (portion of saree hanging over the shoulder) at the back that is stitched. Ghungroos (anklets are worn on the feet – these are specially made for creating the sound to the rhythm of the footwork and are an arrangement of bells stitched in a cloth tied to the feet.

 

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Yakshajana is a theatre form that is most common along the coast as well as in the Malenadur region of Karnataka. The term Yakshajana is a combination of yaksha, who are nature spirits, with jana or gana which means song. Like most theatre forms found in South India, Yakshajana combines dance, music, dialogue, costume, make up as well as stage techniques and as such it closely resembles western opera. In Karnataka, it sometimes simply referred to as ‘the play’.

The themes present in Yakshajana are generally taken from the epics such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata or the Puras which are ancient Hindu texts. When performing Yakshajana, the actors are generally wearing large headgear with intricate facial make up as well as colourful costumes with elaborate ornaments which help give a superhuman appearance to the characters that are being presented. The current form of Yakshajana has been inspired by many different art forms such as ritual theater, temple arts, royal theater and secular arts.

The facial make up of the actors vary from simple to very elaborate designs.  The motif on the face differs and depends if the actor is portraying a hero, demon or a female character. The makeup for a demon is quite elaborate and features artificial eyelids as well as white dots to showcase the violent and fierce nature of demons. These types of makeup can take many hours to complete.

 

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Lavani is a genre of music popular in Maharashtra, India. Lavani is a combination of traditional song and dance, which particularly performed to the beats of Dholki, a percussion instrument. Lavani is noted for its powerful rhythm. Lavani has contributed substantially to the development of Marathi folk theatre. In Maharashtra and southern Madhya Pradesh, it is performed by the female performers wearing nine-yard long sarees. The songs are sung in a quick tempo.

Lavani developed into two distinct performances, namely Phadachi Lavani and Baithakichi Lavani. The Lavani sung and enacted in a public performance before a large audience in a theatrical atmosphere is called Phadachi Lavani. And, when the Lavani is sung in a closed chamber for a private and select audience by a girl sitting before the audience, it came to be known as Baithakichi Lavani.

The ladies that perform lavani wear a long sari length around 9 yards. They form a bun (juda in Hindi or ambada in marathi) with their hair. They wear heavy jewellery that includes necklace, earrings, payal, kamarpatta (a belt at the waist), bangles etc. They usually put a large bindi of dark red color on their forehead. The sari they wear is called nauvari. The sari is wrapped and is more comfortable as compared to other sari types.

There are also men that dance in lavni along with the ladies. They are the called nat (male dancer) usually the kinnars. These men dance in support with the lead dancer.

 

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Garba is a form of dance which originated in the state of Gujarat in India. The name is derived from the Sanskrit term Garbha ("womb") and Deep ("a small earthenware lamp"). Many traditional garbas are performed around centrally lit lamp or a picture or statue of the Goddess Shakti. Traditionally, it is performed during the nine-day Hindu festival Navaratri. Either the lamp (the Garba Deep) or an image of the Goddess, Durga (also called Amba) is placed in middle of concentric rings as an object of veneration.

Garba is performed in a circle as a symbol of the Hindu view of time. The rings of dancers revolve in cycles, as time in Hinduism is cyclical. As the cycle of time revolves, from birth, to life, to death and again to rebirth, the only thing that is constant is the Goddess, that one unmoving symbol in the midst of all of this unending and infinite movement. The dance symbolizes that God, represented in feminine form in this case, is the only thing that remains unchanging in a constantly changing universe (jagat).

Both men and women usually wear colorful costumes while performing garba and dandiya. The girls and the women wear Chaniya choli, a three-piece dress with a choli, which is an embroidered and colorful blouse, teamed with chaniya, which is the flared, skirt-like bottom, with intricate work and dupatta, which is usually worn in the traditional Gujarati manner. Chaniya Cholis are decorated with beads, shells, mirrors, stars, and embroidery work, mati, etc. Traditionally, women adorn themselves with jhumkas (large earrings), necklaces, bindi, bajubandh, chudas and kangans, kamarbandh, payal, and mojiris. Boys and men wear kafni pyjamas with a Ghagra - a short round kurta - above the knees and pagadi on the head with bandhini dupatta, kada, and mojiris. In Gujarati, this costume worn by men is called 'Kediyu'. Over the years, the interest in Garba has only increased. There is a huge interest in Garba among the youth of India and in particular, the Gujarati diaspora. Traditionally, this dance is performed in concentric circles and the entire group performs once step in sync, with the beat starting slow and slowly catching on speed. It is a sight to behold.

 

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