Skip to content

References: Dance and Theater

  1. About Us - Sangeet Natak Akademi - The official page of India's national academy of music, dance and drama, set up in 1953. It explains the Akademi's role, its awards, and its dance institutions such as the Kathak Kendra and the Manipur dance academy in Imphal.

  2. Garba of Gujarat - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage - UNESCO's 2023 listing for Garba, with a description of the circle dance around a lit clay pot during Navaratri and how the tradition is passed on. Includes photos and a short video.

  3. Chhau dance - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage - Describes the three styles of Chhau (Seraikella, Purulia and Mayurbhanj), the use of masks, and its link to the spring festival Chaitra Parva. Inscribed in 2010.

  4. Kutiyattam, Sanskrit theatre - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage - An overview of Kerala's temple theater, its long training and performances that can last up to 40 days. A good companion to the Kathakali section.

  5. Mask dance of the drums from Drametse - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage - Bhutan's masked monastery dance honoring Padmasambhava, with sixteen masked dancers and ten musicians. Shows how dance carries Buddhist teaching in the Himalaya.

  6. Classical Dance - Banglapedia, National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh - Explains what "classical dance" means in Bangladesh and how Bengali dancers learned Kathak, Manipuri and other styles. Useful for the "Whose Story?" question of who defines the term.

  7. Kuchipudi - Akademi: South Asian Dance in the UK - A short, clear introduction to Kuchipudi's village origins, its change from all-male dance-drama to solo dance, and the famous brass-plate tarangam. The same site has pages on other South Asian dance styles.

  8. The Mirror of Gesture: Being the Abhinaya Darpana of Nandikesvara - Ananda Coomaraswamy and Gopala Kristnayya Duggirala, 1917 (Internet Archive) - A public-domain English translation of the classic handbook of dance gestures. It lists the hand shapes and meanings of Pataka, Tripataka, Mayura, Alapadma and many more, with photographs.

  9. Manuscripts of Bhagavad Gita, Natyashastra inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of World Register - The Week (PTI), 18 April 2025 - News report on UNESCO's April 2025 decision to add Natya Shastra manuscripts to its Memory of the World Register.

  10. Indian classical dance - Wikipedia - An overview of the classical forms, the eight recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and the longer lists used by others. Follow its citations to scholarly books on each dance.