Fundamentals and Definitions of Dance
Domain 1 tests the definitional layer of the syllabus: what makes movement 'dance', the Nritta–Nritya–Natya triad, the four abhinaya, and the tandava–lasya pair. Almost every later question on classification, mudra use and rasa assumes you can handle these terms precisely.
Core concepts
- Nritta is abstract, rhythm-driven movement - adavus, footwork, bhramari. It carries no meaning and tells no story.
- Nritya is expressive dance: rhythm plus bhava, using hasta and mukha abhinaya to convey a mood or a line of text (a padam, an ashtapadi).
- Natya is the dramatic element - character, situation, dialogue, plot. The Natyashastra treats natya as the umbrella art of theatre.
- Abhinaya has four channels: angika (body), vachika (song and speech), aharya (costume, make-up, ornaments) and sattvika (involuntary states - tears, trembling, horripilation arising from genuine emotion).
- Tandava is the vigorous mode associated with Shiva; lasya the graceful mode associated with Parvati. Both coexist within one performance.
- Sustained bhava becomes rasa; the Natyashastra names eight, and shanta is added to make the navarasa.
Worked example
A dancer performs a sequence of adavus to sollukattu, then a padam showing a mother waiting for her son, then a scene where she plays both characters in a quarrel. Reasoning: the adavu sequence is nritta (rhythm only); the padam is nritya (rhythm plus bhava); the quarrel scene with character and situation is natya. Sattvika appears when the emotion becomes involuntary - not when she simply applies make-up, which is aharya.
Mark-losing traps
Calling all dance 'nritya'. Swapping aharya (external, applied) with sattvika (internal, involuntary). Crediting the Natyashastra to Nandikeshvara - his treatise is the Abhinaya Darpana. Treating nritta as inferior; it is the technical foundation and is examined as a category in its own right.