The Origins of Asian Theatrical Traditions

In Asia, as in many other regions in the world, the origins of theatre and dance can be traced back to several early, archaic types of performance. In Asia they include 

1. early religious rituals, 
2. ancient movements imitating animals, or so-called animal movements, 
3. the martial arts, and 
4. the art of storytelling. Later, 
5. the complex behaviour codes of different periods, the most intricate of them being court etiquette, also left their undeniable marks on theatre and dance. 

In fact, most of the so-called “classical” styles of Asian performing arts (formulated roughly from the 13^th to the 19^th centuries) can be analyzed or deconstructed so that these original “root” traditions can be recognised. In the later “classical” traditions these root traditions are, however, intermingled with each other in surprisingly various ways.