Three Forms of Abhinaya
Natya, Nritta and Nritya are the three forms
of Abhinaya
(a) Natya or dance drama contains dialogue, interpretation
of moods and mime, music and decor. It covers all the four planes and cause a
blend of aesthetic and physical appeal. Only when the subconscious participation
in the drama has been evoked can natya be said to fulfill its rightful
purpose.
(b) Nritta belongs to the realm of angik abhinaya alone and
is thus on the divine plane. It is a rigid stylization consisting of pure dance
movements evoking neither mood nor sentiment.
(c) Nritya is a combination of both rasa or sentiment and
bhava or mood. It is that which produces aesthetic delight in dance drama. It
embraces the sattwik, angik and to a lesser extent the
aharya abhinaya on the
astral, divine and visual planes. The three chief features of nritya are the
Sattwik abhinaya, the Angik abhinaya and the Aharya abhinaya.
