The Dancing Foot

Yesterday, opening an old cardboard box full of books at office, I found 'The Dancing Foot', a book about folk dances of India by Mulk Raj Anand, first published in January 1957 and reprinted in 1969. The book priced at Rs 2.50 was badly damaged by fungus and it was difficult to read. But the line drawings were great, the language, beautiful and quaint, the spirit, exalted . So, I want to share the first chapter with you, the introduction.

Here goes :



Out of the depths of the night comes the drum beat. It glows into three simple beats. And then into variations of these three beats, accompanied by the emphasis, here and there, of certain phrases of the theme song by dithyrambic (means wildly enthusiastic) human voices. And, from all sides of the village, people become aware of the flowering of a dance in their midst. They move towards the arena and keep time with claps of hands or with the feet. And, the ensemble grows, involving almost the whole community.

This is the atmosphere from which spring the folk dances of India.

From Kashmir in the North to Cape Comorin in the South, from Saurashtra and Maharashtra in the West to Manipur in the East, the village life throbs with the natural gaiety which expresses itself in these popular dances.

Originating in the harvest festivals of our ancient ancestors, when the Gods were invoked or appeased through magical verses and the dancing foot, the folk dances retain the spontaneity and vitality of much of their primary impulse; the quick of the primitive soul. For, as in the earlier times, man bridged the distance between this world and the other world through the dance, by assuming the role of Gods and demons, so, now, he celebrates these intensest moments by his varying steps, taking colour from nature which he conquers, and with which he allies himself. Thus he casts a spell on himself and on the elements which surround him.

This ambivalent relation between man and nature must be emphasised, if we are to appreciate the folk dances of India.

Apparently lush and beautiful, our land yields with difficulty. The peasant tills the soil patiently. If the rains do not come, the hot sun cracks the earth into millions of fissures, and peasant's ordeal is hard, indeed. So, we find that he fights against nature, and yet loves it dearly. The spirits of the past ages, which symbolise natural calamities, like drought, famine, flood, and pestilence, persist. And he exorcises the fears of these dread forces in the permanent, yet ever alive, forms of movement, of his limbs and lineaments.



Again when the clouds pour down, the heart of the farmer is full. It is full of sunshine and God, full of the freedom of the wind and the songs of his land. And the inner life bubbles up in his soul. The deeper rhythms move his feet to dance, even as the magic of rhythm moves little children to dance. Thus, if the Gods give the blessings of plenty as the reward for work, man offers his gratitude through the one art which is nearest to prayer - dance.

That is why man unconsciously simulates the movements of birds, beasts and flowers in his rhythmic stances. Like the swaying of the branches, sway the legs and arms; like the waving grosses waves the body; like the ear of corn are the heads cocked.

And, in this way, the folk dances of India show, in the most obvious manner, the basic connection between outside movements and inner rhythms.

Starting from the early morning chime of temple bells, the people's life revolves round the rhythmic acts of fetching water, milking the cows, churning the butter, pounding the rice, the honking of cattle behind the plough, the scattering of seeds and the ultimate reaping . Certain movements have been abstracted from all those movements, from those operations, and they have been reduced to the simplest forms or cadences. The repetitions of these cadences in the essential rhythms, find expression in the the dance-like eddies of life, purified from everything else, except music and passion for movement, to lift man's ordinary life from the daily drudgeries to the splendour of the highest moments.



The folk dances of India reveal not only the individual talents of our people, but the collective traditions of each part of our countryside, the characteristics of the community, and a love for rhythm almost as though it were the eternal life.

Whilst the differences of landscape and atmosphere have brought about a great variety of rhythms, of musical compositions, of costumes and dance styles, the underlying religious feelings, which were bound up with the nature-cults of ancient and medieval India, have become part of a unique national tradition for the whole country, with an interior oneness of purpose and aspiration.

The vast variety of folk dances of India may be grouped under three heads :
1. Community dances held on the main religious festivals and social occasions;
2. Tribal dances, rooted in aboriginal cults and expressive of their magical philosophies of life;
3. Folk dances preserved by hereditary professional families and troupes, who perform at birth, betrothal, and marriage in the villages.

Of all these dances, it can be said that, as they came to our people, at work, not at the expense of life, but as exaltations of life itself, they belong to the whole people and express the imaginative life. It is true that they face the challenge of modern industrial civilization, and have tended to lapse here and there, through their inertia. But it is also certain that the present rehearsals all over the country of these old dance cultures can be kept alive, not as eddies of momentary impulse but as the fountains from which all flow again.

In this little book we will not divide the dances according to whether they are community, tribal or professional dances, but we shall describe them as the urges of pastoral man of the different parts of our country dedicated to the spirit of rhythm, which is worshiped in the peasant's prayer :

"The dancing foot, the tinkling bells,
The songs that are sung,
And the varying steps,
Find these within yourself,
Then shall your fetters fall away."