India is country with a rich heritage of ancient culture. There are hundreds of dialects. There are innumerable styles of music and dance. Each Indian dance has a distance style and history of its town. Indian dances developed and flourished under the patronage of kings. However, most of them have their origin. The social recognition and support that a dance received led to its enriched development.

According to the Natya Shastra Hindu classical dances had the in the Vedas.

The most ancient dance, of which there is a record, is the Tandav. The heavenly attendant, Tandu, instructed the Bharatas in the use of Angaharas and Karanas. Shiva is the traditional creator of the Tandav Nritya.

The dance is postures of the body, the movement of the feet and hands, the gestures of the head and the eyes, all end beauty and perfection.

Among the large number of Indian dance after the Tandav, Nritya, Bharat Natya is the most celebrated. The Bharat Natya dance is similar to those depicted in 10th century temple sculptures. However, Bharat Natya is quite young as a dance form. The musicians of the Tanjore courts of the 18th and 19th centuries created the music of this famous dance.

It is essentially a solo dance characterized by straight lines, diagonals and triangles.

Another famous Indian dance is the Kuchipudi. The name is derived from a village called Kuchipudi. This village is in the Dini Talug in Andhra Pradesh. The dance is also called Bhama Kalpam, or the story of Bhama, the wife of Lord Krishna. This dance is closely related to Bhama Natya and is popular all over the country. Kuchipudi is freer in style compared to the austere discipline of the Bharta Natya. Kuchipudi can represent in dance from the aura and characters of mythological episodes rendered by a single dancer. These representations are called Sabdas. There are many of these such as Manduka Subda, Purandari Subda, Chamundeswari Subda, Aradnareswar Subda and Dasasavtar Sabda.

Among others, the Vedanta family of Kuchipudi village is the famous exponent of this dance style.

Kathakali is dance that is dramatic in form. It is different from Bharat Natya, Kuchipudi Natya and others, which are narrative in style. The dance of Kathakali is often confused with Khatak. Khatak and Kathakali are, in fact entirely different.

The main feature of Kathakali is that it takes up epic themes and gives them a dramatic form.

The female roles in Kthakali were traditional played by male dancers. The dancers of Kathakali use colored masks. Each mask symbolizes a character.