What makes a dance Classical?
An art from this stature evolves over a long period of time. Its technique is stylized, crystallized, codified, and its projection conforms to a particular and predetermined pattern of conscious artistry. Emotion, a necessary concomitant of every expressional art, is intrinsic to classical dance too, but far from being instinctive or impulsive, it is engendered through the performer’s express volition and is ruled by the intellect. Essential Rapport Unlike folk dance, classical dance is performed not so much for the participant’s own satisfaction as for that of another, consequently classical dance presupposes the existence of not only the performer, but also the beholder; and it is only when rapport is established between the two that the implicit function of the dance can be said to have been fulfilled. Again, while in folk dance the performer may imbibe the technique merely through exposure to the form concerned, in classical dance this can, by and large, he achieved only through in
