The performing arts of India are marked for their vigour and colour. With the staggering variety, multiplicity of forms and plural vocabulary of movement, Indian dance, in both its classical and folk aspects, unfolds a vast panorama.
Folk dance becomes a means for recreation and bonding - a time for sharing sorrow and joy.
With its roots in religion and the part it played in the temples, the contents of the classical dance has mainly centered around the stories from the two epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana. Dance is an invitation, through its musical rhyme, to the world in time and through its sculpturesque poses, to the world in space, in which the character portrayed is living. The entire experience of a dance performance remains incomplete without Rasa, or aesthetic relish, which offers an entry into the worlds of sound, rhyme, and movement justifying the dance as a visual poetry. Theatre has traditionally been a time for stimulating get togethers. Folk theatre has also been a powerful political medium.