Category Dance Forms

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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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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