Music, dance and Indian literature are found in the ancient text of the Gandharva Veda.
The dance, like music and singing, is one of the forms of expression in the Indian culture. They are considered not only as art forms but refined spiritual languages. The word ‘dance’ even lends itself to reflect the complex reality of Indian dance education, in which the dichotomy between the western theatre and dance is dramatically revealed.
The dance Mohiniyattam is one of the major classical dance forms of India that originated between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in the southern state of Kerala. The Mohiniyattam is part of the tradition of the Devadasi dance of the Templars (the ‘priestess of the god’) of which it can be considered a direct derivation. As a dance of worship it is related to Vishnu, which clearly refers to the term Mohini, the woman’s name when God turned to kill the demon Bhasmasura.
The Mohiniyattam, coded according to the principles of the most authoritative treatise of Indian dance, Natya Sastra, is characterized by a harmonious combination of the elements nitrite (pure dance) and nrtya (dance drama), and has the graceful elegance of Bharata Natyam together with the vigour of Kathakali.
