Chapter 12: Dance for Well-being
Dance as well-being: hand gestures as a language, breath and emotion, and the eight bhavas leading to eight rasas.
Original notes — ready CBSE (NCERT, English Medium) • Class 8 • Arts • Book: Kriti
Chapter 12: Dance for Well-being — EG's own notes, in simple words
Book: Kriti (CBSE, Class 8) | Chapter 12 | Section: Dance and Movement | Medium: English
Diagram (labels are printed on the image): A labelled diagram of samyuta hastas: joined-hand gestures from the Abhinaya Darpanam, each named beside its hand shape.
A dancer expressing an emotion through face, breath and hand gestures, with the audience feeling it too.
What the chapter is about
Before there was any language, people communicated using sign language and gestures. Even today, music and dance share thoughts and feelings through gestures. Activity 12.1, 'Speaking with hands', asks students to recite the hasta shloka while doing the gestures with their hands. The chapter quotes the Abhinaya Darpanam (shlokas 172–175, by Nandikeshvara) naming the samyuta (joined-hand) gestures, beginning with the brief identifying lines: 'Anjaliśhcha kapotaśhcha karkatah svastikastatha' — Anjali, Kapota, Karkata and Svastika among the twenty-three samyuta karas named by Bharata and earlier teachers. Students have practised hastas since Grade 6 and are told to refer to all of them.
Activity 12.2, 'The language of silence', and Activity 12.3, 'When hands speak', explore hastas as a sign language: a gesture can say what words cannot, and audiences read meaning from hands alone. The chapter notes Mohiniyattam among the forms where hand language is central.
Breath, bhava and the eight emotions
Your own feelings are your bhavas. Breath helps express them: when you are scared, you breathe rapidly with shallow breaths, which makes the body express fear in perspiration, trembling and loss of facial colour. A heavy exhale or sigh can show disappointment. In theatre the same emotion would be expressed differently; in dance it is more stylised and deliberate, with the whole body — facial expressions along with breath — forming the expression. That is the beauty of the arts: interconnected, yet each form has its own language.
Activity 12.5, 'Dance to express the eight emotions', works through each bhava and its rasa: rati bhava (love) leads to shringara rasa; hasa bhava (laughter) to hasya rasa; shoka bhava (sorrow) to karuna rasa; krodha bhava (anger) to raudra rasa; utsaha bhava (energy, courage) to veera rasa; bhaya bhava (fear) to bhayanaka rasa; jugupsa bhava (disgust) to bibhatsa rasa; and vismaya bhava (wonder) to adbhuta rasa. Activity 12.4, 'Dance of motivation', choreographs a patriotic song in utsaha bhava. Activity 12.6, 'Dance from the heart', has two groups take turns performing and observing a chosen emotion to music, eyes closed, letting the body respond naturally — then relaxing to meditative music, sitting in chin mudra and breathing, focused on peace and contentment: nirveda bhava leading to shanta rasa.
Bringing it together
Activity 12.7, 'Dance choreography', brings together everything from Chapter 10 onwards — breath, postures, movement of feet and arms, hand gestures and emotions — into one choreography. The chapter's opening question returns: why do we tear up watching a sad performance, or smile watching something beautiful? Because the dancer's bhava is so powerful that it touches the heart — the audience feels the rasa. Experiencing emotions can be healing, because deep emotions find an outlet in dance.
Bhava is the feeling in the dancer; rasa is the experience it creates in the audience. One is felt, the other is shared.
Before you dance an emotion, breathe it: fast shallow breaths for fear, a heavy sigh for disappointment, slow calm breaths for peace.
Key Terms
- Hasta — A hand gesture used as a language in dance.
- Samyuta kara — A joined-hand gesture, using both hands together; the Abhinaya Darpanam names twenty-three.
- Abhinaya Darpanam — The 'mirror of gestures' by Nandikeshvara, source of the hasta shlokas.
- Bhava — The first, instant feeling — the emotion as felt by the dancer.
- Rasa — The resultant experience of a bhava in the audience — the feeling shared and tasted.
- Chin mudra — A seated hand gesture used in the closing relaxation of Activity 12.6.
- Nirveda bhava / Shanta rasa — Detachment and peace leading to the rasa of tranquillity.
Remember
- Hastas are a language: hands speak before and beyond words.
- Samyuta hastas (Abhinaya Darpanam 172–175): Anjali, Kapota, Karkata, Svastika and more — 23 in all.
- Breath expresses emotion: fear = rapid shallow breaths, trembling, perspiration, colour loss.
- Eight bhava → rasa pairs: rati→shringara, hasa→hasya, shoka→karuna, krodha→raudra, utsaha→veera, bhaya→bhayanaka, jugupsa→bibhatsa, vismaya→adbhuta.
- Closing: nirveda bhava → shanta rasa, chin mudra, meditative breathing.
- Dance heals: deep emotions find an outlet.
Exam Tip / Common Mistake
Common mistake: acting an emotion only with the face. In dance the whole body — breath, hands, posture — must carry the bhava, or the audience feels nothing.
Chart / Table: Eight bhavas and their rasas
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| Rati (love) | Shringara |
| Hasa (laughter) | Hasya |
| Shoka (sorrow) | Karuna |
| Krodha (anger) | Raudra |
| Utsaha (energy, courage) | Veera |
| Bhaya (fear) | Bhayanaka |
| Jugupsa (disgust) | Bibhatsa |
| Vismaya (wonder) | Adbhuta |
| Nirveda (peace, detachment) | Shanta |
Practice set — try it yourself
- What is the difference between bhava and rasa?
Hint: Bhava is felt by the dancer; rasa is experienced by the audience. - Name the bhava and rasa for sorrow.
Hint: Shoka → karuna. - How does breath show fear in the body?
Hint: Rapid shallow breaths, trembling, perspiration, colour loss. - Which shloka source names the samyuta hastas?
Hint: Abhinaya Darpanam, shlokas 172–175. - What closes Activity 12.6, and which rasa does it reach?
Hint: Meditative music, chin mudra, calm breathing → shanta rasa.
Questions with Answers
- What are hastas, and why does the chapter call them a language?
Hastas are hand gestures. Before spoken language existed, people communicated through gestures, and even today dance audiences read thoughts and feelings from hands alone — gestures say what words cannot. - What does the Abhinaya Darpanam shloka in this chapter name?
The samyuta (joined-hand) gestures: twenty-three in all, named by Bharata and earlier teachers, beginning with Anjali, Kapota, Karkata and Svastika, as quoted in shlokas 172–175 of Nandikeshvara's text. - How does breath help express emotion in dance?
Breath shapes the body's expression: fear brings rapid, shallow breaths with trembling, perspiration and loss of facial colour; a heavy sigh shows disappointment. In dance the whole body, face and breath together form the expression, more stylised than in theatre. - List the eight bhava–rasa pairs.
Rati→shringara (love), hasa→hasya (laughter), shoka→karuna (sorrow), krodha→raudra (anger), utsaha→veera (energy/courage), bhaya→bhayanaka (fear), jugupsa→bibhatsa (disgust), vismaya→adbhuta (wonder). - Why can dance be healing, according to this chapter?
Because experiencing emotions is healing when deep emotions find an outlet: expressing sorrow, anger or joy through movement lets the feeling out instead of holding it inside, and the closing relaxation in shanta rasa restores calm.
Extension questions — go deeper
- Perform one bhava using only your hands and breath — no face, no words. Can classmates guess it? What does that prove about hastas?
If hands and breath alone communicate the feeling, it proves the chapter's claim: gesture is a language with its own grammar, not a decoration on words. - A patriotic song is choreographed in utsaha bhava. Which movements, breath and hastas would you choose, and why?
Strong, expansive steps, deep energised breathing and bold, open hastas — because utsaha is energy and courage, and the body must look and feel powerful to carry veera rasa to the audience. - Compare how fear is shown in theatre and in dance, using the chapter.
In theatre, fear might be shown naturalistically — a gasp, a step back. In dance it is stylised and deliberate: rapid breath, trembling, a fixed gesture held in form — the same feeling, a different language. - Why does Activity 12.6 end with chin mudra and meditative breathing rather than applause?
Because after strong emotions, the chapter wants peace: nirveda bhava leading to shanta rasa lets students notice how they feel, calm down, and learn that dance can restore balance — well-being, not just performance. - Design a short choreography for Activity 12.7 that moves from disappointment to joy, naming its bhavas and the moment of change.
For example, begin with slow steps and a heavy sigh (a disappointed bhava), then a turning point — a rising gesture and quickening breath — into open, joyful movement, showing how dance can move a feeling itself.
- Hastas as sign language; samyuta list source.
- Breath and the body's fear signals.
- All eight bhava → rasa pairs.
- Utsaha choreography and Dance from the Heart.
- Shanta rasa closing: chin mudra, calm breath.
How to use this page: Read the summary, say the Key Terms in your own words, then try the practice set without looking. Use the Questions with Answers to check yourself afterwards. Ask your teacher or parent to check your answers.