Scripting Dance in Contemporary India

As stories of Indian dance’s renaissance span almost a full century, there has emerged a globally dispersed community of Indian dancers, scholars and audiences who are deeply committed to keeping these traditions alive and experimenting with traditional dance languages to grapple with contemporary themes and issues. Scripting Dance in Contemporary India is an edited volume that contributes to this field of Indian dance studies. The book engages with multiple dance forms of India and their representations. The contributions are eclectic, including writings by both scholars and performers who share their experiential knowledge. There are four sections in the book – section I titled, “Representations’ has three chapters that deal with textual representations and illustrations of dance and dancers, and the significance of those representations in the present. Section II titled, “Histories in Process” consists of two chapters that engage with the historiographies of dance forms and suggest that histories are narratives that are continually created. In the third section, “Negotiations”, the four chapters address the different ways in which dance is embedded in society, and the different ways in which the aesthetics of a form has to negotiate with social, economic and political imperatives. The final section, “Other Voices/ Other Bodies” brings voices which are outside the mainstream of dance as ‘serious’ art. Examines Multiple Dance Forms Of India And Their Representations. The Contributions Are Eclectic, With Writings By Both Scholars And Performers Who Share Their Experiential Knowlegde-- The Sacred And The Profane : Gleanings From The Discourses Of Dance Traditions Of Ancient India / C. Rajendran -- The Indian Nautch Girl In Early Colonial Travel Writing / Ruchika Sharma -- Unraveling Mohiniyattam's Outlaw / Justine Lemos -- Building A Natya Shastra : Individual Voices In An Evolving Public Memory / Anandi Salinas -- Thidambu Nritham : A Practitioner's Perspective / Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri And Govindan P -- Araimandi And Arabesque : Body And Technique In Bharatanatyam And Ballet / Kelli Ling And Sushmita Arunkumar -- Changing Landscape Of Dance In South India : Effect Of Economic Liberalization On Dance Practices And Patronage / Veena Basavarajaiah -- Dancing Narratives : Performing Mythology In Globalized Spaces / Maratt Mythili Anoop -- Working Through The Difficult Whole : Analyzing Ananya Chatterjea's Mohona : Estuaries Of Desire / Kaustavi Sarkar -- Picturing Dance : An Investigation Into How Graphic Design Tools Could Be Used To Create A Standardized Notation System For Bharatanatyam / Divya Venkatesh -- Listening To Women Of God : A Report On A Journey From Real To Reel / Melwyn Pinto. Edited By Maratt Mythili Anoop And Varun Gulati. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.