Skip to content

Classical Dance Map

Run the Classical Dance Map MicroSim Fullscreen

About This MicroSim

The Classical Dance Map has two views. The Dance map places the eight classical dances recognized by India's Sangeet Natak Akademi (Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Sattriya, Manipuri and Mohiniyattam) as tiles in roughly their home regions. A checkbox adds Chhau, which India's Ministry of Culture also lists, so you can see that the "official" number depends on who is counting. A "Beyond India" row adds Kandyan dance from Sri Lanka, Attan from Afghanistan (also danced by Pashtuns in Pakistan), Bhangra and Luddi from Punjab (in both India and Pakistan), and Manipuri dance as it is performed in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Click or tap any tile to read where the dance comes from, how to spot it, and what dancers wear.

The Hand gestures view draws six single-hand mudras with simple shapes: Pataka, Tripataka, Ardhapataka, Kartarimukha, Mayura and Alapadma. Their meanings come from the Abhinaya Darpana, a classic handbook of gesture, in the 1917 English translation by Ananda Coomaraswamy and Gopala Kristnayya Duggirala.

The map is schematic, not to scale, and draws no borders.

How to Use

  1. Start in the Dance map view. Click or tap each of the eight tiles and read the panel.
  2. Find one feature for each dance that helps you tell it apart from its neighbors. Compare Kathakali with Mohiniyattam (both from Kerala) and Bharatanatyam with Kuchipudi.
  3. Tick Show Chhau and notice the dashed tile. Read why it is on one list but not the other.
  4. Click the four Beyond India tiles to meet dances from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Punjab and Bangladesh.
  5. Press Hand gestures. Click each hand, read its meanings, and make the shape with your own hand.
  6. Notice how Pataka, Tripataka and Ardhapataka differ by just one bent finger at a time.

Learning Objective

Students will be able to distinguish the eight classical dances recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi by home region, key movement features and costume, and identify six basic single-hand mudras and some of their meanings.

Bloom level: Remember and Understand (identify, distinguish).

Iframe Embed Code

<iframe src="https://aaryavvatts-lab.github.io/south-asian-culture-textbook/sims/ch10-classical-dance-map/main.html" height="802px" width="100%" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Grade level: 9-12 (world cultures, world history, fine arts, ethnic studies, or a South Asian student club meeting)

Duration: 20 to 25 minutes

Activity:

  1. (3 min) Ask students to name any South Asian dance they know. Most will say "Bollywood" or "Bhangra." Write the answers on the board.
  2. (8 min) In pairs, students click all eight classical tiles and fill in a table: dance, home region, one movement clue, one costume clue.
  3. (4 min) Students tick the Chhau checkbox and discuss: why might two government bodies count differently?
  4. (6 min) Students switch to Hand gestures, practice all six mudras with their own hands, and then tell a three-gesture story to a partner (for example: Pataka for waves, Alapadma for the moon, Kartarimukha for lightning).
  5. (3 min) Exit ticket: name two dances from outside India and the country each belongs to.

Assessment questions:

  1. Which classical dance comes from Andhra Pradesh, and what is its famous brass-plate feat called?
  2. Kathakali and Mohiniyattam both come from Kerala. Give one way to tell them apart.
  3. Why does the number of Indian classical dances depend on who is counting?
  4. Which mudra means "flag," and how is Tripataka different from it?
  5. Name the dance that is widely called Afghanistan's national dance, and one place outside Afghanistan where it is danced.

Chapter 10: Dance and Theater