Dance for Well-being – Class 8 Arts Chapter 12 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 8ArtsChapter 12NCERT book: Kriti - Arts Class 8

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 12 of the NCERT Class 8 Arts book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 12: Dance for Well-being (Dance)

Introduction

Dance is a language. With hand gestures (hastas) you can tell a story or even hold a conversation; with emotions (bhāvas) you can move an audience and heal yourself. This chapter builds on the hastas you learnt since Grade 6 and the rasa–bhāva ideas from Grade 7.

Key Ideas

1. Communicating through Hastas

Gestures of one hand are asamyuta hastas; gestures of both hands are samyuta hastas.

The Abhinaya Darpaṇam by Nandikeśhvara lists them in shlokas you can recite while doing the gestures.

Asamyuta hasta shloka (nos. 89–92): 28 single-hand gestures (plus 4 more). The book's transliteration begins:

Patākastripatākoardhapatākah kartarimukhah | Mayurākhyoardhachandraśhcha arālah śukatundakah ||

The 28 are: Patāka, Tripatāka, Ardhapatāka, Kartarīmukha, Mayūra, Ardhachandra, Arāla, Śukatuṇḍa, Muṣṭi, Śikhara, Kapittha, Kaṭakāmukha, Sūchi, Chandrakalā, Padmakośa, Sarpaśira, Mṛgaśīrṣa, Siṃhamukha, Kāṅgula, Alapadma, Chatura, Bhramara, Haṃsāsya, Haṃsapakṣa, Sandaṃśa, Mukula, Tāmrachūḍa, Triśūla.

Samyuta hasta shloka (nos. 172–175): 23 combined gestures: Añjali, Kapota, Karkaṭa, Svastika, Dolā, Puṣpapuṭa, Utsaṅga, Śivaliṅga, Kaṭakāvardhana, Kartarīsvastika, Śakaṭa, Śaṅkha, Chakra, Sampuṭa, Pāśa, Kīlaka, Matsya, Kūrma, Varāha, Garuḍa, Nāgabandha, Khaṭvā, Bheruṇḍa.

2. Hastas as a Sign Language

Before language, people used gestures. People still use hand gestures naturally while talking.

You can build your own sign-language chart using hastas, and use them to tell stories without words — more stylised than mime.

3. Expressing Emotions

Bhāva is the first thought, the instant feeling; rasa is the resultant experience.

Experiencing emotions can be healing because deep feelings find an outlet.

Breath expresses emotion: fear brings rapid, shallow breaths, trembling, perspiration, loss of facial colour; a heavy sigh shows disappointment.

Theatre shows emotion one way; dance makes it more stylised and deliberate, using the whole body, face and breath.

Joy: kolattam (Tamil Nadu), dandiya (Gujarat), and the complex movements of Kuchipudi and Odissi.

4. The Eight Bhāvas and Their Rasas

Rati bhāva → shringāra rasa (love)

Hāsa bhāva → hāsya rasa (laughter)

Shoka bhāva → karuṇa rasa (sorrow)

Krodha bhāva → raudra rasa (anger)

Utsāha bhāva → veera rasa (courage)

Bhaya bhāva → bhayānaka rasa (fear)

Jugupsā bhāva → bībhatsa rasa (disgust)

Vismaya bhāva → adbhuta rasa (wonder)

After the activities: Nirveda bhāva → Shānta rasa (peace), sitting in chin mudra with meditative music.

5. Dance Heals

Releasing feelings brings relief — emotional healing; relating to an emotion on stage is empathy.

Dance exercises help the body: head and neck movements are used for spondylitis, eye movements to improve eyesight.

Careers: dance movement therapy, healing through dance, dance and wellness; psychologists and physiotherapists use movement as therapy.

Scenes like Poothana Moksham (Kathakali) and Surpanakha please audiences of varied tastes.

Activities in the Chapter

12.1 Speaking with Hands — recite the hasta shlokas while doing the gestures.

12.2 The Language of Silence — (a) enact a situation (busy road, festival, camping, farming) with hastas; (b) communicate two everyday sentences using only hastas.

12.3 When Hands Speak — describe what the pictured gestures communicate.

12.4 Dance of Motivation — choreograph a patriotic song (utsāha bhāva).

12.5 Dance to Express the Eight Emotions.

12.6 Dance from the Heart — eyes closed, feel an emotion, then create a group dance.

12.7 Dance Choreography — compose a dance to a song from music class.

Key Terms

Hasta — hand gesture (हस्त)

Asamyuta hasta — single-hand gesture (असंयुत हस्त)

Samyuta hasta — double-hand gesture (संयुत हस्त)

Bhāva — emotion, feeling (भाव)

Rasa — aesthetic experience (रस)

Utsāha — enthusiasm, courage (उत्साह)

Vismaya — wonder (विस्मय)

Nirveda — detachment, calm (निर्वेद)

Shānta — peace (शांत)

Empathy — feeling with others (समानुभूति)

Dance movement therapy — healing through movement (नृत्य-गति चिकित्सा)

Connect to Your Life

Next time you feel upset, try slow breathing and a few expressive movements to music — notice whether you feel lighter. Watch how people use their hands while talking.

Common Mistakes

Swapping the counts: 28 single-hand (asamyuta) vs 23 double-hand (samyuta).

Confusing bhāva (the feeling) with rasa (the experience it creates).

Pairing the wrong rasa: shoka → karuṇa (not raudra); krodha → raudra.

Performing gestures without the matching facial expression and breath.

Let's Reflect

Which of the eight emotions was easiest and which hardest to express? Why?

How did you feel after the Shānta rasa relaxation?

💡 Key Learning Points

✓Asamyuta hastas are single-hand gestures (28 in the shloka); samyuta hastas use both hands (23).
✓Hastas can work like a sign language to tell stories and communicate without words.
✓Each of the eight bhāvas leads to a rasa, e.g. rati → shringāra, shoka → karuṇa, vismaya → adbhuta.
✓Breath, face and whole-body movement together express emotion in a stylised way in dance.
✓Dance supports emotional and physical well-being and leads to careers like dance movement therapy.

👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

→Recite the hasta shlokas slowly in pairs, showing each gesture on its word (use the QR video).
→Build a class sign-language chart of hastas for everyday phrases like 'sit down' or 'thank you'.
→Put the eight bhāva–rasa pairs on flashcards and play a guess-the-emotion game.
→Model how breath changes with fear and joy before students try it.
→Create a safe, respectful space so students feel comfortable showing both positive and negative emotions.
→End sessions with the Shānta rasa relaxation in chin mudra to settle the class.
→Link to Theatre's mime work, then show how dance makes the same idea more stylised.

📋 Assessment Questions

Can the student recite part of the hasta shloka while showing the correct gestures?
Can the student distinguish asamyuta and samyuta hastas and state their counts?
Can the student pair the eight bhāvas with their rasas?
Does the student express an emotion clearly through face, breath, hastas and movement?
Can the student explain two ways dance supports well-being?

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