four Pravrittis (traditions, genres) of ancient dance-drama in vogue when it was composed – Avanti (Ujjain, central), Dakshinatya (south), Panchali (north, west) and Odra-Magadhi (east). Sources differ in their list of Indian classical dance forms. Encyclopædia Britannica mentions six dances. The Sangeet Natak Akademi has given recognition to eight Indian dances. The Indian government's Ministry of Culture includes nine dance forms. Scholars such as Drid Williams and others include Yaksagana and Bhagavata Mela to the nine classical Indian dances in the Sangeet Natak Akademi list. The classical dance forms recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Ministry of Culture are: Classical dances recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Ministry of Culture Bharatanatyam, from Tamil Nadu Kathak, from Uttar Pradesh Kathakali, from Kerala Kuchipudi, from Andhra Pradesh Manipuri, from Manipur Mohiniyattam, from Kerala Odissi, from Odisha Sattriya, from Assam Other dances also recognised by the Ministry of Culture Chhau, from Eastern India (Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal) Gallery some of the famous Indian classical dancers are : Bharatanatyam - Rukmini Devi, Padma Subrahmanyam, Vyjayanthimala, Sheema Kermani, Padmini, etc. Kathak - Birju Maharaj, Nahid Siddiqui, Lacchu Maharaj, Gopi Krishna, Saswati Sen, Manjari Chaturvedi etc. Kathakali - Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, etc. Kuchipudi - Mallika Sarabhai, V. Satyanarayana Sarma, Deepa Shashindran, etc. Manipuri - Guru Bipin Singh, Darshana Jhaveri, Jhaveri Sisters, Devjani Chaliha, Amala Shankar Mohiniyattam - Kalamandalam Kalyanikutty Amma, Shobhana, Sunanda Nair, Kalamandalam Radhika, Thankamani, Kalamandalam Hymavathy Odissi - Sujata Mohapatra, Madhavi Mudgal, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Surendra Nath Jena, Shobana Sahajananan Shared aspects All major classical Indian dance forms include in repertoire, three categories of performance in the Natya Shastra. These are Nritta, Nritya and Natya: The Nritta performance is an abstract, fast and rhythmic aspect of the dance. The viewer is presented with pure movement, wherein the emphasis is the beauty in motion, form, speed, range and pattern. This part of the repertoire has no interpretative aspect, no telling of the story. It is a technical performance, and aims to engage the senses (Prakriti) of the audience. The Nritya is slower and expressive aspect of the dance that attempts to communicate feelings, storyline particularly with spiritual themes in Hindu dance traditions. In a Nritya, the dance-acting expands to include silent expression of words through gestures and body motion set to musical notes. The actor articulates a legend or a spiritual message. This part of the repertoire is more than sensory