PERFORMING ARTS

MUSIC
- Two main schools of classical music - Hindustani and Carnatic.
- This has led to the existence of familly traditions called gharanas and sampradays.
DANCE
- Dance in India has an unbroken tradition of over 2,000 years.
- Its themes are derived from mythology, legends and classical literature, two main divisions being classical and folk.
- Classical dance forms are based on ancient dance discipline and have rigid rules of presentation.
- Important among them are Bharata Natyam, Kathakali, Kathak, Manipuri, Kuchipudi and Odissi.
- Bharata Natyam, though it derives its roots from Tamil Nadu, has developed into an all India form.
- Kathakali is a dance form of Kerals. Kathak is a classical dance form revitalised as a result of Mughal influence on Indian culture.
- Manipur has contributed to a delicate, lyrical style of dance called Manipuri.
- Kuchipudi is a dance form owing its origin to Andhra Pradesh.
- Odissi from Odisha, once practised as a temple dance, is today widely exhibited by artistes across the country.
- Each region limits ethnic folk / tribal dances.
- Both classical and folk dances owe their present popularity to institutions like Sangeet Natak Akademi and other training institutes and cultural organisations.
- The Akademi gives financial assistance to cultural institutions and awards fellowships to scholars, performers and techers to promote advanced study and training in rare forms of dance and music.
THEATRE
- Theatre in India is as old as its music and dance.
- Classical theatre survives only in some places.
- Folk theatre can be seen in its regional variants practically in every region.
- There are also professional theatres, mainly city-oriented. Besides, India has a rich tradition of puppet theatre, prevalent forms being puppets, rod puppets, glove puppets and leather puppets (shadow theatre).
- There are serveral semi-professional and amateur theatre groups involved in staging plays in both English and Indian languages.
SAHITYA AKADEMI
- Sahitya Akademi is the Indian National Academy of Letters, to promote Indian literature through publications, translations, seminars, workshops, cultural exchange programmes and literary meets organised all over the country.
- The Akademi was founded in March 1954 as an autonomous body fully funded by the Department of Culture.
- It was registered as a Society in 1956 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
- The Akademi has recognised 24 languages.
- It has an Advisory Board for each of the languages that suggests various programmes and publications in the concerned languges.
- Besides its Head Office in New Delhi, it has four offices in Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, besides a Project Office at Shillong for promotion of oral and tribal literature and an Archive of Indian literature in Delhi.
- It maintains a unique multilingual library in New Delhi and at its regional offices at Bengaluru and Kolkata, having about 1.5 lakh books in over 25 languages.
The three fellowships by Sahitya Akademi are :-
1. Sahitya Akademi Honorary Fellowhip
2. Anand Fellowship
3. Premchand Fellowship