Bharatanatyam dance video skin#

My dance videos in North Bengal and Sikkim are meant to attack the metropolitan arrogance of the dancers I have met in Delhi.Д«haratanatyam has for long been relegated to the domain of the body. It is impossible to find empathy in dance classes because only women from backgrounds of social and material privilege continue with dance training. I suffered bouts of serious illnesses during the last academic session. Poor living conditions are common even at most exorbitant paying guest facilities in Delhi. He would not allow me to progress with my lessons even though I was a sincere student. A dance teacher would mock me so frequently for such or similar вЂreasonsвЂ™ that I became convinced that I was incapable of learning.

Bharatanatyam dance video skin#

Discrimination based on physical appearance and colour of skin dominates classical dance circles. Since I have to travel alone, anxiety for my safety determines whether I can attend rehearsals or perform a recital at a given time. I have relocated from a small town to Delhi for my higher education. My own handicaps have regulated my access to dance. It remains impossible even today for anyone of a modest economic background to consider making a career in Bharatanatyam because there is little income from it and enormous expenditure. Bharatanatyam was also de-commercialised to conceal its association with prostitution. Contemporary Bharatanatyam performance suppresses its connection with the devadasis, but bears distinct marks of the fervent years of the nationalist-reformist movement around it that cleansed and replaced the erotic content of the dance with purely devotional choreographies to uphold the image of women from вЂupperвЂ™ caste families as chaste, good and pure. Religion was used to cover up the filth of this practice. These women were vulnerable to sexual and economic exploitation because of their class and caste position. Historically, Bharatanatyam was performed by devadasis in temple courtyards. Bharatanatyam shrouds itself in obscurity and mysticism to establish itself as inaccessible. Indians also ritualise the dance form, in turn, to protect it from the вЂimpureвЂ™ and вЂpollutedвЂ™ presence of the lower castes and вЂantagonisticвЂ™ faiths. It is beautiful because of its incomprehensibility and remoteness. The orientalist perspective on Bharatanatyam exoticises it as a mindless movement of the body. My project makes a humble effort to democratise the art form by using the traditional language of dance to articulate contemporary concerns of discrimination, abuse, violence and sectarianism. The cultural hegemony escapes criticism because it is protected by the elite enclaves which Bharatanatyam never dares to exit. It thrives on the alienation of Muslims, Dalits and the poor from its territory. Through its pretence of neutrality, it becomes a sacrosanct cultural nationalist symbol, often hijacked by right-wing (read: Hindutva) politics. Taking advantage of its status as a classical performance form, it demands transcendence from its audience, something that only the privileged can afford. Bharatanatyam is treated as a purely aesthetic category that does not have the responsibility to engage with contemporary social and political realities. My dance initiative does not only attempt to destabilise social hierarchies outside Bharatanatyam, but navigates its own problematic relationship with gender, class, caste, nationhood and ethnicity. When rapes and lynching are the order of the day, normativity and conformity can only be the result of desensitisation. What I aspire to achieve with this spectacle is the visibility of deviance. I probably look hysterical while doing some exaggerated expressions and energetic steps of Bharatanatyam at a traffic point.

In a society that is unfair to several marginalised communities and women, enduring normality feels like complicity with prevalent systems of injustice.ДЇinding a woman dancing on the streets or in public transport is not an ordinary sight.

Prejudices about womenвЂ™s madness and hysteria have dominated discourses on and attitudes towards women for centuries.

By dancing in places that are still largely inaccessible to and unsafe for women, I try to assert my agency against attempts to control it. For about two years, I have been working on an initiative that uses Bharatanatyam to reclaim public spaces for women.