Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-05T17:19:08.744Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bharatanatyam as a Global Dance: Some Issues in Research, Teaching, and Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Avanthi Meduri
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The promise of critical liberation that postcolonial and transnational perspectives offer by urging us to think the complex imbrication of the global in the local remains an unfulfilled promise in South Asian dance scholarship. I will elaborate this point by describing the global thrust of Rukmini Devi's art and education movement, which could not be recuperated within the territorializing intellectual framework of Indian nationalism, and explain why she, in fact, manifests herself as a discursive failure in standard scholarly accounts of Bharatanatyam in the United States.

Part I: Bharatanatyam manifests itself as a world form today, quite like Ballet, albeit with a different genealogy. It is researched in western academic institutions in the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, as well as in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Malaysia. Practitioners and dance scholars organize international conferences focused on Bharatanatyam all over the world today, and the Dance Studies Program at Roehampton, supported by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), has assumed a leadership role in providing a new, global profile for the dance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , Winter 2004 , pp. 11 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Allen, M. H. 1997. “Rewriting the Script for South Indian Dance.” The Drama Review 41: 63–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appadurai, Arjun. 1988. “Why Public Culture?” Public Culture 1 (1): 5–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appadurai, Arjun. 1996. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Besant, Annie. 1925. Star Congress at Ommen. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House.Google Scholar
Chakravorty, Pallabi. 1998. “Dance Hegemony and Nation: The Construction of Classical Indian Dance.” South Asia 21: 107–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chakravorty, Pallabi. 2000/2001. “From Interculturalism to Historicism: Reflections on Classical Indian Dance.” Dance Research Journal 32 (2) (Winter): 108–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chatttopadhyay, Kamaladevi. 1986. “A Vision of Totality.” Kalakshetra Quarterly (Madras): 8 (3–4): 5–6.Google Scholar
Clifford, James. 1997. Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Coorlawala, Uttara A. 1992. “Ruth St Denis and India's Dance Renaissance.” Dance Chronicle 15: 123–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coorlawala, Uttara A. 1996. “The Birth of Bharatanatyam and the Sanskritized Body.” The Body in Dance: Modes of Inquiry: Conference Proceedings of the Congress on Research in Dance.Google Scholar
Cowdery, James R. 1995. “The American Students of Balasaraswati.” UCLA Journal of Dance Ethnology 19: 50–57.Google Scholar
Cvetkovich, Ann and Kellner, Douglas, eds. 1997. “Introduction: Thinking Global and Local.” In Articulating the Global and the Local: Globalization and Cultural Studies, 1–30. A Division of Harper Collins Publishers: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Devi, Rukmini. 1936. “The International Academy of the Arts.” Adyar Pamphlet, no 208. Madras: The Theosophical Publishing House.Google Scholar
Devi, Rukmini. 1949. The Besant Cultural Centre News. (March): 1–12 Google Scholar
Devi, Rukmini. 1960. The Besant Cultural Centre. Adyar: Kalakshetra Publications.Google Scholar
Erdman, Joan. 1987. “Uday Shankar in the West.” TDR 31 (1) (T13): 164–88.Google Scholar
Erdman, Joan. 1996. “Dance Discourses: Rethinking the History of the Oriental Dance.” In Moving Worlds: Rewriting Dance. Edited by Morris, Gay. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fabian, Johannes. 1983. Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes its Object. NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Featherston, Mike. 1990. “Global Culture: An Introduction.” In Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalization and Modernity. Edited by Featherstone, Mike. London, New Delhi: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Gaston, Anne-Marie. 1996. Bharatanatyam from Temple to Theatre. New Delhi. Manohar.Google Scholar
Grau, Andree. 2002. “South Asian Dance: The British Experience: Negotiating Cultural Identity through Dance.” Unpublished Report, Leverhulme Research Grant n. F/569/D.Google Scholar
Grau, Andree. 2004. “Dance and Postcolonial Theory: South Asian Dance in Britain.” In Dance in South Asia: New Approaches, Politics and Aesthetics. Edited by Chakravorty, Pallabi, 23–30. Swarthmore College.Google Scholar
Hall, Stuart. 1996. “Introduction: Who Needs Identity.” In Questions of Cultural Identity. Edited by Hall, Stuart and Gay, Paul Du, 1–18. London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Iyer, Allesandra, ed. 1997. South Asian Dance: The British Experience. London: Harwood Academic Publishing.Google Scholar
Iyer, Allesandra, ed. 2003. “Classicism, Post-Classicism and Ranjabati Sircar's Work: Re-Defining the Terms of Indian Contemporary Dance Discourses.” South Asia Research, 23 (2): 153–169.Google Scholar
Jinarajadasa, C. 1950. “The Disassociation Policy.” The Indian Theosophist 47 (8) (February): 19–23.Google Scholar
Kersenboom-Story, Saskia. 1987. Devadasi Tradition in South India. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass.Google Scholar
King, Anthony, ed. 1997. “Introduction: Spaces of Culture, Spaces of Knowledge.” In Culture, Globalization and the World System: Contemporary Conditions for the Representation of Identity, 1–39. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Kothari, Sunil, ed. 1979. Bharatanatyam: Indian Classical Dance Art. Bombay: Marg Publications.Google Scholar
Marglin, Frederique Appfel. 1985. “Wives of the God-King.” Rituals of the Devadasis of Puri. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 1988. “ Bharatanatyam: What Are You?” Asian Theatre Journal 5 (1): 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 1990. “History as Image: Mimesis in Bharatanatyam” Fifth Hong Kong International Dance Conference, July 15–28: Conference Papers 11, K-Z: 107–125, Hong Kong: Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 1996a. “Nation, Woman, Representation: The Sutured History of the Devadasi and Her Dance.” Ph.D. dissertation, New York University.Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 1996b. “Modern History of Bharatanatyam: Vibrant Form or Export Commodity.” Voices 1 (3): 53–57.Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 1997. “They Revived A Tradition.” Hindu (Chennai) (September 5, 30).Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 2001a. “Talibanization of the Performing Arts.” The Hindu (Chennai) (Dec. 18).Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 2001b. “Bharatanatyam—What are You?” In Dance History Reader: Moving History/Dancing Cultures. Edited by Albright, Ann Cooper and Dils, Ann, 103–133. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 2003a. “Multiple Pleasures.” In Taken by Surprise: A Dance Improvization Reader. Edited by Albright, Ann Cooper and Gere, David, 141–150. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 2003b. “Western Feminist Theory, Asian Indian Performance and a Notion of Agency.” In Performance: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies. Edited by Auslander, Philip, London, New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 2004. “Knowing the Dancer: East meets West.” Victorian Literature and Culture, 32 (2): 435–448 [This essay is co-authored with Jeffrey Spear].Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 2005a. “Introduction: A Critical Overview.” In Rukmini Devi: A Visionary Architect of Indian Culture and the Performing Arts, 3–29. Edited by Meduri, Avanthi, New Delhi: Motilal Ba-narasidass.Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 2005b. “Rukmini Devi and Sanskritization: A Performance Perspective.” In Rukmini Devi: A Visionary Architect of Indian Culture and the Performing Arts, 195–223. Edited by Meduri, Avanthi, New Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass.Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 2005c. God Has Changed His Name. (Play forthcoming) Calcutta: Seagull Press.Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 2005d. Birds of The Banyan Tree, (Play forthcoming). Calcuttta: Seagull Press.Google Scholar
Meduri, Avanthi. 2005d. (forthcoming). Translocal Modernities: Cultural Identity, Aesthetics and Cosmopolitanism in Bharatanatyam. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Menon, Narayana. 1986. “Rukmini Devi and the Making of Kalakshetra .” Kalakshetra Quarterly (Madras): 8 (3–4): 93–94.Google Scholar
Menon, Sankara. 1961. Report on Kalakshetra: 1936–1961. Adyar: Kalakshetra.Google Scholar
Ali, Mirsepassi, Amrita, Basu, and Frederick, Weaver, eds. 2003. Localizing Knowledge in a Globalizing World: Recasting the Area Studies Debate. New York: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
Nachiappan, C. 2001. Rukmini Devi: Bharatanatya. Chennai: Kalakshetra Publications.Google Scholar
Niranjana, Tejaswini, Sudir, P. and Dhareshwar, Vivek, eds. 1993. Interrogating Modernity: Culture and Colonialism in India. Calcutta: Seagull Books.Google Scholar
O'Shea, Janet. 1998. “Traditional Indian Dance and the Making of Interpretive Communities.” Asian Theatre Journal 15 (1) (Spring): 45–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Shea, Janet. 2001. “At Home in the World: Bharata Natyam's Transnational Traditions.” Ph.D. dissertation, UC Riverside.Google Scholar
Pattabhiraman, N. and Ramachandran, Anandhi. 1984a. “The Whole World in Her Hands,” Part 1. Sruti 4 (January/February): 17–31.Google Scholar
Pattabhiraman, N. and Ramachandran, Anandhi. 1984b. “The Whole World in Her Hands,” Part 2. Sruti 5 (March): 17–32.Google Scholar
Pillai, Shanti. 2002. “Rethinking Global Indian Dance through Local Eyes: The Contemporary Bharatanatyam Scene in Chennai.” Dance Research Journal 34 (2) (Winter): 14–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prakash, Gyan. 1990. “Writing Post-Orientalist Histories of the Third World: Perspectives from Indian Historiography.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 32 (2): 383–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prickett, Stacey. 2004. “Techniques and Institutions: The Transformation of British Dance Tradition through South Asian Dance.” Dance Research Journal, 22 (1): 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramphal, Veena. 2005. “Reinvoking Rukmini Devi: Questions from a Dance Maker in Britain.” In Rukmini Devi: A Visionary Architect of Indian Culture and the Performing Arts, 247–258. Edited by Meduri, Avanthi. New Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass.Google Scholar
Ramanarayan, Gowri. 1984a. “Rukmini Devi: A Quest for Beauty, a Profile,” Part 1, Sruti 8 (June): 17–29.Google Scholar
Ramanarayan, Gowri. 1984b. “Rukmini Devi: Dancer and Reformer, A Profile.” Sruti 9 (July): 17–29.Google Scholar
Ramanarayan, Gowri. 1984c. “Rukmini Devi: Restoration and Creation, A Profile.” Sruti 10 (August): 26–38.Google Scholar
Ramani, Shakuntala, ed. 2003. Rukmini Devi Arundale: Rukmini Devi Birth Centenary Commemorative Volume (A Rukmini Devi Centenary Publication). Chennai: Kalakshetra Foundation.Google Scholar
Ramani, Shakuntala, ed. 2003. Shraddanjali: Brief Pen Portraits of Great People who Laid the Foundation of Kalakshetra (A Rukmini Devi Birth Centenary Publication). Chennai: Kalakshetra Foundation.Google Scholar
Ranson, Josephine. 1938. A Short History of The Theosophical Society. Madras: The Theosophical Publishing House.Google Scholar
Robertson, Roland. 1995. “Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeniety-Heterogenity.” In Global Modernities. Edited by Featherston, Mike, Lash, Scott, and Roland, Robertson, 25–68. London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarada, S. 1985. Kalakshetra Rukmini Devi: Reminiscences. Madras: Kala Mandir Trust.Google Scholar
Soneji, Devesh. 1999. “The Catir Composition of the Thanjavur Brothers.” (unpublished paper).Google Scholar
Srinivasan, Amrit. 1983. “The Hindu Temple Dancer: Prostitute or Nun?” Cambridge Anthopology 8 (1): 73–99.Google Scholar
Srinivasan, Amrit. 1984. “Temple Prostitution and Community Reform: An Examination of the Ethnographic, Historical and Textual Content of the Devadasis of Tamil Nadu, South India.” Ph.D. dissertation, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Srinivasan, Amrit. 1985. “Reform and Revival: The Devadasi and Her Dance.” Economic and Political Weekly 20 (44) (November): 1869–1876.Google Scholar
Tharu, Susie and Lalita, K., eds. 1993. Women Writing In India: Vol 2, The 20th Century. New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York.Google Scholar
Vatsyayan, Kapila. 1968. Classical Indian Dance in Literature and the Arts. New Delhi: Sangeet Natak Akademi.Google Scholar
Vatsyayan, Kapila. 1974. Indian Classical Dance. New Delhi: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.Google Scholar