PSEB Class 12 Dance cheat sheet

Nritta is pure rhythmic movement without emotional expression; Nritya is expressive dance conveying bhava and rasa; Natya is dramatic dance combining mime, speech and narrative.

The nine rasas of Indian classical dance are shringara (love), hasya (comic), karuna (compassion), raudra (anger), veera (heroic), bhayanaka (fear), bibhatsa (disgust), adbhuta (wonder) and shanta (peace).

Sangeet Natak Akademi recognises eight classical dance forms of India: Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, Mohiniyattam and Sattriya.

The Natyashastra, attributed to Bharata Muni, is the foundational Sanskrit treatise on dance, drama and music; it describes the origin of natya and the anga, pratyanga and upanga body divisions.

Abhinaya has four types: angika (body), vachika (speech/song), aharya (costume, make-up, scenery) and sattvika (inner emotional state).

Kathak's key elements are tatkar (footwork), amad (entry piece), tukra and toda (compositions), paran (bols played on pakhawaj), and gat-bhao (mime); the ghunghroo (anklet bells) mark the beat.

Bharatanatyam's core repertoire order is alarippu, jatiswaram, shabdam, varnam, padam, tillana; the varnam is the longest and combines nritta and abhinaya.

The talas used in Kathak include Teental (16 matras), Jhaptal (10 matras), Rupak (7 matras) and Ektaal (12 matras); the sam is the first beat where the cycle resolves.

Asamyuta hastas are single-hand gestures and samyuta hastas are combined two-hand gestures; the hasta mudras are described in the Abhinaya Darpana of Nandikeshvara.

A performance traditionally opens with a salutation or pushpanjali/mangalacharan invoking the deity or guru, then proceeds through pure nritta to expressive nritya.

Araimandi is the half-sitting position with knees bent outward and thighs near-parallel to the floor; it is the base stance for Bharatanatyam adavus.

The ten adavus of Bharatanatyam are grouped into families such as tatta, natta, metti, tattu-metti, kuditta-metti, sarikkal, and thai-thai-tha; each has a fixed foot, hand and head coordination.

In Kathak, tatkar is executed with the flat foot and heel, keeping the upper body steady while the ghunghroo accents the tala; the chakkars are spins taken with the body as a vertical axis.

Viva answers should identify the tala, raga, composer and composer's mudra for a performed item, plus the meaning of the sahitya (lyric) line.

Aharya abhinaya in a performance includes costume, jewellery (e.g. temple jewellery in Bharatanatyam), and specific make-up such as Kathakali's chutti and red-green face codes.

The stage is traditionally divided into kumbha (front), madhya (middle) and anga (rear) zones for entry, exposition and exit; the performer enters from the wings facing the audience.

A mudra is the hand seal; when used in abhinaya, hasta gestures are combined with eye (drishti), neck (greeva) and head (shiro) movements to convey meaning.