East and the West

I had two different topics to write today and since the other one was into philosophy, this one scored better.

I watched this amazing video in YouTube and as much I was fascinated by the performance, I was also drifting into thoughts comparing the Eastern and the Western dances.



If I compare this to Bharatanatyam (see video below) or any other classical dance forms in India or even the eastern countries, they are diagonal ends... The former concentrates on precision and the perfection while the latter focuses more on the expressiveness, the vibrations and the color. In other words, the former is more formal and latter though formal has an entirely different approach to dance. Now a simple relation of this dance to the attitude of the people would reveal that these differences are bound to occur.



A place where ethics and culture is defined by fake smiles and false courtesies, develops a dance that is actually more formal in nature while a place where an illiterate widow, completely new to politics and lacking a single quality to lead could sit on the road, grieve for her husband's death and win an election, develops a more expressive and emotional dance. The important difference made by the East in this aspect is that traditional forms of dances are so closely knit into the life and religion of its people. Discussions and debates were filled with arts and the pride of the Indian parents once resided in the artistic abilities of their kids. Until the recent ages when Indians have got the disease of shunning away their identities, tradition was a part of every Indian home. In one way or the other, every kid would be exposed to some form of dance and some form of music that completely originated in India. With globalization shrinking the world and bringing the west and the east closer (afterall the world is round and the west and the east are already close!!), I'm not sure if it eliminates the negatives on both sides but I could certainly say that the tradition that was developed over hundreds of years is being lost really fast in India.