35 Indian Dance Forms, Styles and Songs

I did not plan to spend years chasing dance across India when I first packed a bag for Assam with nothing more than a vague idea about temple festivals. What happened instead was that almost every state I passed through handed me a story that never made it into any guidebook, told to me by someone who had spent a lifetime inside the dance rather than reading about it from the outside. What follows is that collection, arranged loosely by region, in the order I actually learned it, sitting on verandas, in temple courtyards, and once in the back of a shared jeep going up a mountain road in Sikkim.

Northeast India

1 Hojagiri, Tripura

I first heard the word Hojagiri from a shopkeeper near Agartala who insisted I stay an extra day for the festival. What I found was a small courtyard where four young women balanced clay pitchers on their heads while standing and dancing on top of a single glass bottle, a feat that looked physically impossible until one of the performers, barely out of her teens, explained that she had been practising the balance since childhood using nothing more dramatic than carrying water home from the well. The festival itself honours the goddess Lakshmi, called Mailuma in the Reang community's own language, and falls on the full moon night after Durga Puja. What stayed with me longest was learning, almost by accident from a conversation on a bus a year later, that a recent community debate had broken out over whether men should be allowed to perform the dance at all, a reminder that even a centuries old tradition is still being actively negotiated by the people who own it.

2 Cheraw, Mizoram

In a village outside Aizawl an elder sat me down before the performance even began and told me something I have never forgotten, that this bamboo dance was once tied not to celebration but to the death of infants, meant to guide a young soul gently onward. Watching dancers step between rhythmically clapping bamboo poles after hearing that made the whole performance feel entirely different, less like a spectacle and more like a quiet act of care that had simply grown more festive with time. A single mistimed step brings a sharp pinch rather than a graceful stumble, and the dancers I watched trained for months before ever performing in public.

3 Bagurumba, Assam

A Bodo woman near Kokrajhar taught me the word for this dance means butterfly, and once she said it I could not unsee the resemblance, arms outstretched with cloth trailing like wings during the Bwisagu spring festival. She also mentioned, almost as an aside, that there are two distinct versions, one performed purely to instruments and a second called Royal Bagurumba that adds full sung verses, and that most outsiders who film the dance for social media only ever capture the instrumental version without realising a second, more ceremonial form exists.

4 Chang Lo, performed by the Limbu community

This one I nearly missed entirely. A harvest dance performed by the Limbu community, it has so little written about it that even locals I asked struggled to point me toward anyone outside their own village who had documented it properly. What I did learn, sitting through one evening of practice before an actual festival, is that the steps are taught entirely by watching and repeating, with no written notation at all, passed the way most oral traditions are, through patient correction rather than instruction.

5 Singhi Chham, Sikkim

Somewhere on a mountain road above Gangtok I caught my first glimpse of the Snow Lion Dance, performed by Buddhist lamas in elaborate lion costumes during a monastery festival honouring Mount Khangchendzonga. A young monk explained that Singhi Chham is one among a family of masked Cham dances specific to Sikkim's Buddhist calendar, and that the lion mask itself is treated as a sacred object outside performance days, stored and handled with the same care given to other ritual instruments in the monastery.

6 Thang Ta, Manipur

In Imphal a martial arts teacher broke this down for me into four distinct disciplines I had never heard grouped together before, a spear dance called Ta khousarol, sword fighting called Thanghairol, unarmed combat called Sarit Sarat, and a touch and call discipline called Thengkourol. He told me, with a kind of quiet pride mixed with old frustration, that Thang Ta was suppressed for years after Manipur's merger with India and survived only because a small number of dedicated practitioners kept training students in secret until it could be revived publicly.

7 Santhali dance, Jharkhand and West Bengal

Performed in a semi circle with arms interlocked to the beat of the Madal drum, this communal dance of the Santhal tribe was explained to me by a schoolteacher in a small Jharkhand town who was clearly delighted that I recognised it from Satyajit Ray's film Agantuk, a rare crossover into mainstream Bengali cinema that most outsiders never realise exists. The dance is performed during the Sahrai and Baha harvest festivals, and men and women dance in separate but interlocking rows rather than as mixed pairs.

South India

8 Thirayattam, northern Kerala

Inside an ancestral shrine called a kaavu near Kannur, an old performer walked me through the three stages of Thirayattam before I watched it unfold exactly as he described, an initial stage called Vellattam, the main Thirayattam performance where the dancer embodies the deity's full youthful form, and a closing stage called Chanthattam where the deity's energy visibly settles into a calmer, more pacified presence. He belonged to the Malaya community, who hold the hereditary right to perform this ritual, and he was quietly firm that Thirayattam, despite looking similar to Theyyam to an untrained eye, follows its own distinct structure and songs.

9 Thidambu Nritham, Kerala

A temple priest near Thrissur mentioned this one almost in passing, describing how the performer balances a decorated idol replica directly on the head while dancing to percussion, a physically demanding ritual duty that receives almost no attention outside the specific temples that still practise it.

10 Kamsale, Karnataka

Near the Biligiriranga Hills a group of Kamsale performers, devotees of Lord Mahadeshwara, showed me the brass cymbal instrument the dance takes its name from, an object one elder told me dates back to references in the eleventh century Basava Purana. Learning Kamsale, he explained, is treated as part of a spiritual vow called diksha rather than a stage skill picked up casually, which is why performers are almost always drawn from families with generations of devotional connection to the deity.

11 Hulivesha, coastal Karnataka

During Mangaluru Dasara I watched performers spend hours being painted head to toe in tiger stripes before dancing with genuine ferocity through the streets. A dancer told me the transformation felt less like putting on a costume and more like temporarily becoming something else entirely, and that families in his coastal town consider it an honour for a boy to be selected for the tiger role during Navaratri.

12 Gotipua, Odisha

In the village of Raghurajpur near Puri, boys as young as five were already training under a guru when I visited, learning to dress and dance as women in devotion to Radha and Krishna. Their teacher explained that the tradition began specifically to preserve devotional dance after the older Mahari female temple dancer tradition declined in the sixteenth century, and that Gotipua is now widely understood as the living root from which modern Odissi eventually grew.

13 Perini Shivatandavam, Telangana

Near Warangal a young dancer told me this warrior dance had nearly vanished entirely after the fall of the Kakatiya dynasty, surviving only in fragments of temple sculpture at the Ramappa Temple and in an old Sanskrit dance treatise called the Nrittya Ratnavali, until a twentieth century scholar named Nataraja Ramakrishna spent years reconstructing it piece by piece. Watching it performed felt less like a dance and more like a rehearsal for battle, which is exactly what it once was, performed before soldiers left for war.

14 Dhimsa, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha border region

In the Araku Valley, Porja community women invited me to join a circle dance whose movements, I quickly realised, were simply their daily farming tasks slowed down into rhythm, picking leaves, sowing, gathering. One woman told me plainly that Dhimsa was never meant to be a performance at all, it began as something danced during rest periods between actual labour, and only later became something shown to visitors.

15 Karma Naach, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand

During the Karma festival, performed to honour the Karam tree and ask for a good harvest, an elder explained that the footwork is deliberately built to mirror sowing and harvesting motions, meaning the dance itself functions almost like a prayer written in movement rather than words.

16 Gaur Maria, Bastar region of Chhattisgarh

Nothing prepared me for the sight of Muria Gond dancers wearing tall headdresses topped with real gaur bison horns, moving in ways that clearly mimicked the animal itself during a festival gathering. A young dancer told me the headdress is treated with real reverence, passed down within families rather than made fresh for every performance.

West and North India

17 Bhavai, Rajasthan

A performer from the Kalbelia community in Rajasthan balanced nine brass pots on her head while standing on the rim of a plate, and when I asked how anyone learns this, she told me the discipline traces back to ordinary women who once carried multiple water pots across long desert distances, and that the dance simply took a daily necessity and turned it into art.

18 Kalbelia, Rajasthan

The same community that dances Bhavai is also known for Kalbelia, traditionally connected to snake catching and folk medicine. Watching it, the serpentine sway through the spine and arms is unmistakable, and a performer told me that despite the dance now carrying UNESCO recognition, most of her own training still happened entirely within the family rather than any formal school.

19 Kachchhi Ghodi, Shekhawati region of Rajasthan

At a wedding procession in Shekhawati, men mounted on dummy horse costumes built from papier mache and mirror work staged mock battles while a singer narrated old ballads about the Bavaria bandits of the region. One performer laughed and told me most of the audience these days knows the dance only as wedding entertainment, without any idea that the songs behind it are actual regional bandit folklore.

20 Choliya, Uttarakhand

At a Kumaoni wedding in the hills, armed dancers moved to drum and shehnai rhythms in a sword dance meant, an elder told me, to ward off evil spirits from the wedding party during the procession itself, treated as a practical protective ritual rather than mere entertainment.

21 Siddi Dhamal, Gujarat and parts of Karnataka

This is the story that surprised me most on the entire journey. The Siddi community, descendants of East African settlers brought to India centuries ago through maritime and trade routes, perform a dance that blends African rhythmic traditions with local Gujarati and Konkani influence. A performer told me his own family history the way most people recite ancestry, matter of fact and proud, a direct thread connecting his dance to a coastline thousands of kilometres away.

22 Dekhnni, Goa

During the Shigmo spring festival in Goa, a semi classical performance called Dekhnni carried a quieter undertone than I expected, and a local historian mentioned that some of the earliest recorded Dekhnni songs actually referenced resistance figures against Portuguese colonial rule, meaning the dance once carried a political charge that has softened into pure festival celebration today.

23 Charkula, Braj region of Uttar Pradesh

On the third day after Holi in the Braj region, veiled women balanced a wooden pyramid holding up to 108 lit oil lamps on their heads. A woman waiting to perform told me the local legend behind it, that Radha's grandmother once ran through the streets carrying a lit charkula to announce her birth, and that the dance has been performed on that exact day ever since.

24 Deodhani, Assam

Back where this whole journey started, at Kamakhya Temple, I finally understood the full scale of Deodhani. A Deodha enters what onlookers describe as a trance, believed to be possession by the goddess Manasa and other deities, dancing with a sword and shield in a performance connected to the medieval Assamese literary work Manasa Kavya. Standing in that crowd, the atmosphere felt entirely unlike anything staged for tourists, heavy with genuine belief rather than performance.

25 Paika dance, Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh border belt

A martial dance performed by hereditary warrior communities, Paika dancers enact full battle sequences with swords and shields to the sound of the nagara drum and shehnai. An old performer told me his family's connection to this tradition predates any organised colonial era regiment, a militia lineage that simply continued into dance once its original military purpose faded.

26 Theyyam, northern Kerala

I saved this one for later in my travels because so much has already been written about it since the film Kantara brought new attention to ritual possession dances across South India. But nothing I read prepared me for actually sitting through a Theyyam performance at night in Kannur district, watching a performer transform through hours of elaborate face paint and towering headgear into what devotees genuinely believe is a living deity. Performed by men from the scheduled caste and tribal communities who hold hereditary rights to specific Theyyam characters, the ritual reverses ordinary social hierarchy for the night, with upper caste devotees bowing before performers they would not otherwise treat as equals, a detail one performer described to me with quiet, unshowy pride rather than resentment.

27 Bhoota Kola, coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala

Bhoota Kola shares deep roots with Theyyam, both tribal in origin, both built around trance possession, both performed at night in sacred groves rather than staged theatres. In Tulu Nadu, a performer explained that the ritual invokes local spirits called bhootas or daivas, and that the entire event functions as a living oracle where the community brings real disputes and hardships for the possessed performer to address. He also told me something that reframed the whole ritual for me, that despite recent fame from cinema, most Bhoota Kola performances are still not staged for outsiders at all, they remain private community events that visitors are occasionally allowed to witness rather than attend as spectators.

28 to 35, the eight classical dances

After all that travel through folk and tribal India, I want to place the eight officially recognised classical dances here in full, since they carry their own depth of origin, costume, music and practice tradition that deserves the same treatment.

28 Bharatanatyam

Bharatanatyam comes from Tamil Nadu and is widely considered the oldest surviving classical dance tradition still performed today. Its roots trace to the devadasi system, where women dedicated to temple service performed a form called Sadir as an act of worship rather than entertainment. The dance nearly disappeared when the devadasi system was abolished during the colonial period, and it survived largely because of a deliberate revival led by Rukmini Devi Arundale, who founded the Kalakshetra school in 1936 and moved the dance from temple courtyards onto the public stage. A detail worth knowing that gets buried in most summaries is that Rukmini Devi Arundale was not the first person to teach the form to both men and women, hereditary devadasi families had done this for generations before her, she is more accurately remembered as the first to formalise it into an institution.

Costume for Bharatanatyam is built around a stitched silk saree pleated into a fan shape at the front so the geometric leg positions remain visible, paired with temple jewellery and a distinctive belt called the oddiyanam. The music accompanying it is Carnatic, and the dance is structured around the three elements of bhava, raga and tala, meaning emotion, melody and rhythm woven into a single expression.

Practice songs to start with

Alarippu is almost always the first piece a Bharatanatyam student learns, a pure rhythmic invocation without any storytelling content, meant purely to build posture and timing. Jatiswaram follows once basic footwork stabilises, introducing rhythmic syllables without lyrics, and Varnam comes much later once a student is ready to combine pure dance with expressive storytelling in a single extended piece.

29 Kathak

Kathak developed in North India and carries a name derived from Katha, meaning story, since it began as a technique used by wandering storytellers to narrate epics through gesture and footwork before evolving into a codified court and temple art. Unlike the other classical forms, Kathak absorbed heavy Persian and Mughal court influence over centuries, which explains its distinctive spins, its instrumental accompaniment style and its costume options that range from a flowing skirt for Hindu themed pieces to a fitted anarkali for Mughal court style pieces.

Practice songs to start with

Beginners typically start with a Thumri for expressive practice, focusing on subtle storytelling through the face and hands, and a Tarana for pure rhythmic syllable work that builds speed and footwork control without any narrative content attached.

30 Kathakali

Kathakali comes from Kerala and is less a dance in the conventional sense and more a full dance drama, where performers spend years training their eyes and facial muscles to express thirty six distinct combinations drawn from the navarasa, the nine core emotions of classical Indian aesthetic theory. The makeup process alone can take up to six hours, layered with rice paste and natural pigments, finished with a paper frame around the jaw called chutti that has to dry perfectly before the performance can begin. Stories are drawn almost entirely from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and traditional training happens inside a gurukulam where children as young as seven begin daily eye exercises long before they learn any footwork.

Practice songs to start with

Because Kathakali is dialogue and drama driven rather than solo lyrical practice, beginners usually start not with a song but with basic eye and facial movement drills set to simple percussion patterns, only moving to full padams, sung narrative verses, once expression control is established.

31 Kuchipudi

Kuchipudi takes its name directly from the village of its origin in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, and for centuries it was performed exclusively by Brahmin men, who also played all female roles, a practice historians say was partly meant to shield women from exploitation by local rulers and patrons of the time. The dance was systematised in the seventeenth century by Siddhendra Yogi, a devotee of Krishna, and it remained an all male tradition until the twentieth century when guru Vedantam Lakshminarayana Shastri began training women and popularised the solo format that most audiences recognise today.

Its signature piece is the Tarangam, where the dancer performs intricate footwork balanced on the rim of a brass plate, sometimes with a water filled pot on the head, moving the plate across the floor without spilling a drop, a feat that typically takes years of dedicated practice before it can be performed safely on stage.

Practice songs to start with

Students usually begin with Jatiswaram for pure rhythmic footwork, followed by simple Shabdam pieces that introduce basic storytelling, well before attempting anything close to the plate balancing of a full Tarangam performance.

32 Odissi

Odissi comes from Odisha and is instantly recognisable by its tribhangi posture, the three bend stance of the body that many practitioners believe was inspired by temple sculptures at Konark, meaning generations of dancers trained themselves to resemble stone carvings rather than the carvings copying an existing dance. Every performance traditionally opens with Mangalacharan, an invocatory piece whose specific verses can vary depending on which deity the local temple honours that season, so no two regions perform quite the same opening even though outsiders often assume it is standardised nationwide. A ritual called Bhumi Pranam, touching the earth to ask forgiveness before striking it with dancing feet, is considered non negotiable by many traditional gurus regardless of a student's talent level.

Practice songs to start with

Mangalacharan itself doubles as an early practice piece for beginners since it establishes basic postural discipline, and Pallavi follows next, introducing pure movement set to melody without any narrative content.

33 Manipuri

Manipuri dance from the northeastern state of Manipur is built around the Ras Leela tradition, depicting the love between Krishna and Radha with movement so gentle it is often compared to paddy stalks swaying in wind. Unlike almost every other classical form, the dancer never makes direct eye contact with the audience, since the performance is treated as a private devotional offering rather than a public display. Traditional performances historically took place at midnight during specific lunar phases inside temple courtyards lit only by oil lamps, with audiences seated at ground level rather than in raised auditorium seating, a detail that changes the entire sensory experience compared to how the dance is usually seen today.

Practice songs to start with

Young students typically begin with basic Pung Cholom rhythm exercises tied to the Pung drum before ever attempting Ras Leela movement, since rhythmic grounding is considered essential before expressive training begins.

34 Mohiniyattam

Mohiniyattam comes from Kerala and takes its name from Mohini, the enchantress form of Vishnu, and the dance is built around swaying, continuous movement with almost no sharp or angular transitions, distinguishing it sharply from the geometric precision of Bharatanatyam. Like several other classical forms it was tied to devadasi practice and was banned outright by colonial legislation between 1931 and 1938 on the mistaken assumption that it was connected to prostitution, before being partially reinstated after public protest. Its revival is credited largely to the poet Vallathol Narayana Menon, who also helped restore Kathakali through the same Kerala Kalamandalam institution.

Practice songs to start with

Beginners typically start with Cholkettu, an introductory piece combining rhythmic syllables with gentle expressive movement, composed in Manipravalam, a hybrid of Malayalam and Sanskrit unique to this dance tradition.

35 Sattriya

Sattriya is the most recently recognised of the eight, added to the official classical list only in the year 2000. It developed inside the Vaishnava monasteries of Assam called sattras, founded by the saint and reformer Shankaradeva in the fifteenth century, and for over five hundred years it was performed exclusively by monks called bhokots as part of daily religious practice on Majuli, the river island that houses many of these monasteries. Unlike most classical forms, Sattriya is often described as a living tradition rather than a revived one, since it never stopped being performed continuously within the monastery walls even while it remained unknown to wider audiences.

Practice songs to start with

Training usually begins with Borgeets, devotional compositions written by Shankaradeva himself, sung slowly to help students internalise both the rhythm cycle and the devotional intent behind the movement.

Is There a Ninth Classical Dance

The Sangeet Natak Akademi's official list stops at eight. India's Ministry of Culture, however, separately includes Chhau in its own list, effectively recognising a ninth classical style at the national policy level even though the Akademi has not formally expanded its own count to match. Some scholars go further, arguing Yakshagana and Bhagavata Mela deserve classical recognition too, based on their documented links to ancient performance texts and continuous ritual practice. For dancers and communities who perform Chhau, particularly in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal, the paperwork debate matters far less than the fact that the mask dance has carried sacred meaning in their villages for generations regardless of which government list includes it.

Kathak Deep Dive: The Three Gharanas

Lucknow Gharana

Developed under Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, who was himself a dancer and patron rather than only an audience member, the Lucknow Gharana prizes bhava above everything else, meaning grace, subtlety and facial nuance called nazakat matter more than raw speed.

Jaipur Gharana

The Jaipur style flips the priority entirely toward layakari, meaning rapid footwork, dizzying spins called chakkars and mathematically complex rhythm cycles performed with a level of speed and precision that can confuse even trained musicians when done correctly.

Banaras Gharana

Also called the Janakiprasad Gharana, this school uses a distinctive spoken rhythm vocabulary called natwari bols, syllables that exist only within dance tradition and are kept separate from the tabla bols used by percussionists, essentially a private spoken language passed down only within the dance lineage itself.

Confused? Quick Comparisons

From Screen to Stage: Bollywood Songs Rooted in Classical Dance

Ghar More Pardesiya, from the film Kalank, was choreographed with genuine Kathak footwork and spins, and teachers often use it as a motivating bridge piece for students who find pure classical practice intimidating at first. Mere Dholna carries visible Odissi influenced arm movement blended with Kathak spins, while placing Pinga alongside Dola Re Dola Re shows how the same emotional scene can be expressed through two entirely different vocabularies, one rooted in folk Lavani energy and the other in a more classical blend. None of this makes these songs classical performances in the formal sense, but the recognisable tunes give many students a comfortable entry point before they move to pure practice repertoire.

Gear Guide: Ghungroo, Costumes and Accessories

Traditional ghungroo are strung directly on cotton or silk thread with no padding, which can cause real discomfort during long rehearsal sessions, sometimes leaving marks on the ankle bone. Velvet padded versions have grown popular precisely to solve this without changing the sound quality. Bharatanatyam ghungroo are measured differently from Kathak ones, structured in lines or layers attached to a padded strap rather than counted purely by loose bell number.

Practice sarees are usually stitched looser around the ankle than performance sarees so footwork stays visible to a teacher during lessons, while performance costumes prioritise a fitted silhouette for stage presentation. Alta, the red dye applied to hands and feet before performances, comes in a natural lac based version and a chemical version, and many older teachers still prefer the natural version despite it fading faster, since it is gentler on skin during long hours under hot stage lights.

Popular Folk Dances by State

State	Folk Dance
Punjab	Bhangra and Giddha
Gujarat	Garba and Dandiya Raas
Rajasthan	Ghoomar and Kalbelia
Maharashtra	Lavani
Assam	Bihu
West Bengal	Chhau and Baul
Tamil Nadu	Karakattam and Kummi
Karnataka	Dollu Kunitha and Yakshagana
Kerala	Theyyam and Thiruvathira
Uttar Pradesh	Nautanki and Raslila folk theatre
Himachal Pradesh	Nati
Goa	Fugdi and Dekhnni

Adult Beginner's Roadmap to Learning

Teachers across nearly every style give adult beginners the same honest warning, expect stiffness in the hips and knees for the first several months and treat flexibility work as seriously as choreography itself. Time commitment realistically starts at two structured classes a week alongside short daily rhythm practice at home, since consistency matters far more than long occasional sessions. Certification through recognised bodies such as Gandharva Mahavidyalaya or Prayag Sangeet Samiti provides useful structure for adult learners, particularly for anyone who eventually wants to teach rather than only perform.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many classical dances does India officially have

The Sangeet Natak Akademi recognises eight classical dances of India. The Ministry of Culture separately includes Chhau as a ninth style, and some scholars argue for further additions such as Yakshagana and Bhagavata Mela.

What is the difference between Kathak and Kathakali

Kathak is a North Indian solo dance built around footwork, spins and rhythmic storytelling, while Kathakali is a Kerala dance drama performed in groups with elaborate face paint, masks and a slow build of facial expression.

How many bells should a ghungroo have for a beginner

Young children usually start with around twenty five bells per anklet. Adult beginners in Kathak are generally advised to start between fifty and one hundred bells per leg before progressing to heavier counts as strength and balance improve.

Is Chhau considered a classical dance of India

It depends on the source. The Sangeet Natak Akademi list of eight classical dances does not include Chhau, but India's Ministry of Culture lists it alongside the eight, effectively treating it as a ninth recognised classical style.

Which Bollywood songs are based on classical Indian dance

Ghar More Pardesiya uses Kathak footwork and spins, Mere Dholna blends Odissi arm movement with Kathak, and the pairing of Pinga with Dola Re Dola Re shows the same scene expressed through folk and classical vocabulary side by side.

What is Gotipua dance and how is it related to Odissi

Gotipua is an Odisha tradition where young boys dress and dance as women to honour Radha and Krishna. It emerged after the temple based Mahari female dancer tradition declined in the sixteenth century and is widely regarded as the direct precursor to modern Odissi.

What is Bhoota Kola and is it the same as Theyyam

Bhoota Kola is a spirit worship ritual from Tulu speaking coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala, closely resembling Theyyam in its tribal origins, attire and trance based performance, though the two are distinct traditions tied to different regional communities and deity systems.