Journey Through the World of Performing Arts

Performing Arts: The Use of the Body for Artistic Expression

• Performing arts are live performances for an audience, including theatre, music, and dance.
• Artists who perform in front of an audience are called performers, including actors, comedians, dancers, magicians, and musicians.
• Performing arts can be performed in purpose-built buildings, open-air stages, tents, or on the street.
• Performance aims to express emotions and feelings.
• Performing arts include dance, music, opera, theatre, puppetry, circus arts, stand-up comedy, improv, wrestling, and performance art.
• Dance is a powerful impulse channeled by skillful performers into something that becomes intensely expressive and can delight spectators.
• Music is an art form that combines pitch, rhythm, and dynamic to create sound and can occur in live or recorded formats.
• Western performing arts began in Greece in the 6th century BC and saw a revival during the Renaissance.
• Indigenous African performance traditions are rooted in ritual, storytelling, movement, and music.
• In Iran, there are various forms of theatrical events such as Naghali, Ru-Howzi, Siah-Bazi, Parde-Khani, and Mareke giri.
• Indian performing arts can be traced back to the religious ritualism of the Vedic peoples in the 2nd millennium BC.
• Kālidāsa is considered ancient India's greatest dramatist, known for plays inspired by the Ramayana and Mahabharata.A brief history of performing arts in different parts of the world is given below:

India:

• The earliest Indian plays were Sanskrit dramas, the most famous of which were written by Kalidasa.
• Bhavabhuti, Harsha, and many other dramatists followed during the Middle Ages.
• Different art forms like Koodiyattam, Nangyarkoothu, Kathakali, Chakyar koothu, Thirayattam were prevalent in southern India.

China:

• References to theatrical entertainments in China date back to 1500 BC during the Shang dynasty.
• During the Tang dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong formed an acting school known as the Children of the Pear Garden to produce drama that was primarily musical.
• Shadow puppetry first emerged as a recognized form of theatre in China during the Han dynasty.

Thailand:

• Traditional plays based on plots drawn from Indian epics have been staged in Thailand since the Middle Ages.
• The theatrical version of Thailand's national epic Ramakien, a version of the Indian Ramayana, remains popular in Thailand.

Cambodia:

• Inscriptions dating back to the 6th century AD indicate evidence of dancers at a local temple and using puppetry for religious plays.
• At the ancient capital Angkor Wat, stories from the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata have been carved on the walls of temples and palaces.

Philippines:

• Ibong Adarna and Florante at Laura are two famous epic poems in the Philippines.
• José Rizal, the Philippine's national hero, created the two famous novels, Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo, during the colonization of the Philippines by the Spanish Empire.

Japan:

• During the 14th century, small companies of actors in Japan performed short, sometimes vulgar comedies.
• Zeami Motokiyo is considered one of the finest child actors in Japan and adapted his style into what is today Noh.
• Ningyō jōruri and kabuki are two of the most popular forms of theatre in Japan.

Melanesia:

• Melanesian dance exhibits a cultural theme of masculinity where leadership and a unique skill set are important for sharing with the community.
• The costumes of impersonating dancers incorporate large masks and unhuman-like characteristics that act to imitate mythical figures.