List of top Performing Arts Questions

Read the following passage and answer the questions given below:
Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA)
The SNA was established on 31 May 1952. In his speech at the inauguration on 28 January 1953, Maulana Azad (1888-1958), then Union Minister for Education and later founder of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), said that the aim of the SNA was to 'preserve our traditions by offering them an institutional form'.
The SNA's mission, stated in its Memorandum of Association is:
To promote research in the fields of Indian music, dance and drama and for this purpose to establish a library and a museum; to encourage the exchange of ideas and enrichment of techniques between the different regions in regard to the arts of music, dance and drama; to publish research on Indian performing arts; to revive and preserve folk traditions in different regions; to sponsor and encourage festival, seminars and conferences; to give recognition to individual artists for outstanding achievement: to foster cultural contacts between different regions of the country and with other countries; and to cooperate with similar Akademis, institutions and associations for the furtherance of these objectives
With respect to theatre, the SNA holds workshops for playwrights; funds interstate cultural exchange programmes; funds research in the traditional performing arts; offers financial support to cultural institutions; organizes festivals of modern theatre, traditional performance, shadow theatre, marionette theatre and other forms of puppetry: gives awards and fellowship to distinguished artists: collects audiotapes, videos and photographs; and maintains an audiovisual archive as well as a library.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the question given below:
A Kuchipudi performance traditionally is a night performance, when rural families return from their farms and are free of their daily work. It has been performed in or next to a Hindu temple, and the stage lit by the yellow lights of castor oil burning torches. The dance-drama begins with an invocation (melavimpu, puvaranga). This may be an on stage prayer to Ganesha, the Hindu god of good beginnings, or may be an invocation expressing reverence to various Hindu gods, goddesses, earth, or one's guru (teacher).
The conductor of the performance enters and plants an "Indra's banner" staff, then introduces all the actors and the characters they play, who are revealed behind a curtain, and when each actor arrives, colored resin is thrown into the flame of one or more torches for dramatic color effects and audience's attention. Each actor performs a short dance called the Pravesa Daru accompanied by a short musical piece, as the vocalist describes his or her role. The conductor is typically present throughout the performance, on the stage, explains the play, talks and humors the audience.
After the actors have been introduced, the nritta part of the Kuchipudi performance starts. The actors presents a pure dance (jatis or jatiswarams), performed rhythmically to a musical raga, and these are called Sollakath or Patakshara. A basic unit of dance in Kuchipudi is called an adugu (or adugulu), and these correspond to the karana in Natya shastra. Each basic unit combines hand and foot movement into a harmonious sthana (posture) and chari (gait), that visually appeals to the audience wherever he or she may be sitting. Each dance unit, according to the ancient text, is best performed to certain recitation of mnemonic syllables and mucisal beat. A series of karana form a jati, formalized originally as an oral tradition through Sanskrit mnemonics, later written, and these form the foundation of what is performed in nritta sequence of Kuchipudi.
Thereafter comes the nritya, the expressive part called abhinaya, and this is the heart of the play. The actor-dancer uses hand mudras and facial expressions inspired by the sign language in ancient Sanskrit texts, with an exacting footwork, to communicate the underlying story to the audience. A solo play or solo part of the performance is called a Shabdam, and this may be set to a poem, a verse or a prose. A varnam combines dance with mime in order to draw out and express the rasa (emotional state), and this can be solo or group. Parts set to poetry that are love lyrics or express deeper sentiments are called a padam, and this part constitutes expressing the emotional, the allegorical and the spiritual aspects of the play.