Chapter 9: Music and Dance

This chapter was really interesting to me--but was a little difficult to get through for me. I think I sometimes have difficulty reading about music and dance, rather I would rather listen to the music and see the dance. Who knows, maybe I'll download some Indian music tonight! There were some particular things that I took away from this chapter which I thought were really interesting. I think it it funny that in traditional dance only the men can play the parts, so they must dress as women if there is a role for women in the dance. What is interesting is that this form of dance feels threatened by Hindi films that actually use females for the female roles.

After reading about the classical dance, I would really love to see this performed at some point. Who knows, maybe this summer! The dances share elements of vocabulary with music. Expressive gestures and movements are combined with rhythm that is beaten out by the feet. Bells are worn around the ankles in order to emphasize the footwork. The vocabulary and gesture allows the dancer to provide a setting, a character, or idea. Many of the best loved dance dramas are from Hindu epics, myths, and stories. While reading this section, it reminded me of a ballet. The way they tell stories through dance must be similar to the classical Indian dance. I think it would be interesting to see the dance in order to compare the styles with one another.

As with everything else it seems in India, dance and music aren't just purely for entertainment. They too serve religious and sacred value. Indo-Islamic musical subcultures are growing today. Many dances are performed for the deities and songs are performed as a religious act (similar to the Western culture's worship). Many of the types of elements and instruments used in Indian music was quite foreign to me, although some are the same. There are five key elements in making music, according to the Indians--raga (tone), the beat, the drone, and the interplay between improvisation and composed segments in a particular work. Music and dance in India has kept many roots, but has changed and transformed a great deal in recent years due to globalization of mass media, new technology, etc.