Insights Static Quiz -162, 2018 –Art and Culture

Solution: b

Nandikeshvara (5th century-4th century BC) was the great theorist on stage-craft of ancient India. He was the author of the Abhinaya Darpana (“The Mirror of Gesture”), a famous treatise on dance.

Solution: c

As per Abhinaya Darpan, Nandikeshwara’s famous treatise on dance, an act has been broken into three basic elements:

• Nritta – It refers to the basic dance steps, performed rhythmically but devoid of any expression or mood.
• Natya – It means dramatic representations and refers to the story that is elaborated through the dance recital.
• Nritya – Nritya refers to the sentiment and the emotions evoked through dance. It includes the mime and the different methods of expression including mudras in the dance.

Solution: d

The origins of Bharatanatyam can be traced back to ‘Sadir’ – the solo dance performance of the temple dancers or ‘devadasis’ in Tamil Nadu. It was also referred to as ‘Dashiattam’.

With the decline of the Devadasi system, the art too became nearly extinct. However, the efforts of E. Krishna Iyer, a prominent freedom fighter, revived this dance form.

Solution: c

Garba – Garba is a popular folk dance of Gujarat, held at the time of Navaratra. Garba actually refers to “Garbha deep” – an earthern pot with holes, in which a lamp is lit and women dance around it in circular movements with rhythmic clapping.

Mohiniattam – Mohiniattam is an Indian classical dance form that evolved in the state of Kerala.

Mohiniattam adheres to the Lasya type that showcases a more graceful, gentle and feminine form of dancing.

(‘Mohini’ meaning beautiful woman and ‘attam’ means dance), it is essentially a solo dance performance by women.

Yakshagana – It is perhaps the oldest theatre traditions, which is prevalent till date in the regions of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

It originated in the royals courts of the Vijaynagar empire and was performed by a particular community known as Jakkula Varu.

Solution: a

Bharatnatyam is often referred to as the ‘fire dance’, as it is the manifestation of fire in the human body. Most of the movements in Bharatnatyam resemble to that of a dancing flame.