Dancing Bodies of Devotion: Fluid Gestures in Bharata Natyam
- Author: Zubko, Katherine C.
Zubko argues for Bhakti rasa (aesthetic flavor of devotion) in the classical Indian dance form bharata natyam, and suggests, through ethnographic examples, that there are multiple ways of embodying...
Dancing Bodies of Devotion: Fluid Gestures in Bharata Natyam
- Author: Zubko, Katherine C.
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Zubko argues for Bhakti rasa (aesthetic flavor of devotion) in the classical Indian dance form bharata natyam, and suggests, through ethnographic examples, that there are multiple ways of embodying...
About
Dancing Bodies of Devotion: Fluid Gestures in Bharata Natyam examines how Bharata Natyam, a traditionally Hindu storytelling dance form, moves across religious boundaries through both incorporating choreography on Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and Jain themes and the pluralistic identities of participants. Dancers traverse religious boundaries by reformulating an aesthetic foundation based on performative rather than solely textual understandings of rasa, conventionally defined as a formula for how to physically craft emotion on stage. Through the ethnographic case studies of this volume, dancers of Bharata Natyam innovatively demonstrate how the rasa of devotion (bhakti rasa), surprisingly absent from classic dance-related texts, serves as the pivotal framework for expanding on their own interreligious thematic and interpretive possibilities. In contemporary Bharata Natyam, bhakti rasa is not just about enhancing religious experience; instead, these dancers choreographically adapt various religious identities and ideas in order to emphasize pluralistic cultural and ethical dimensions in their work. Through the dancing body, multiple religious and secular interpretations fluidly co-exist.
Contents
- Part I : Religious Bodies
- Chapter 1 : Rasa: A Taste of the Divine
- Chapter 2 : Balasaraswati and Krishna Ni Begane Baro
- Chapter 3 : Francis Barboza and Christian Themes
- Conclusion Bhakti Rasa: A Re-Personalized Aesthetic of Devotion
- Part II : Cultural Bodies
- Chapter 4 : Rasa and Bhakti as Indian Categories
- Chapter 5 : Dhananjayans' Sanghamitra
- Chapter 6 : Kalai Kaviri's Gayatri Mantra
- Conclusion Is there an Indian way of dancing devotion?
- Part III : Ethical Bodies
- Chapter 7 : Natya as Visual Education and the Ethics of Rasa
- Chapter 8 : Dhananjayans' Stree (Woman)
- Chapter 9 : Monica Cooley's Subhasitam: Morality Tales of India and Bhagavad Gita Sabdam
- Conclusion An Ethics of Bhakti Rasa: Performance of a Moral Mood
- Part IV : Pluralistic Bodies
- Chapter 10 : Unity and Multiplicity of Rasa
- Chapter 11 : Malini Srinivasan and Sufi Qawwali
- Chapter 12 : Tehreema Mitha and Ratt Jaga (The Vigil)
- Conclusion Revisiting "Unity in Diversity"
- Conclusion
- Glossary Illustrated
- Glossary of Gestures
Awards and reviews
Zubko argues for Bhakti rasa (aesthetic flavor of devotion) in the classical Indian dance form bharata natyam, and suggests, through ethnographic examples, that there are multiple ways of embodying and communicating this devotional mood. The author's expertise in dance (as well as religion) is evident, and she points out how a dance associated with Hinduism is, in fact, also used to communicate non-Hindu--but definitively Indian--ideas and emotions. For nonexperts, the glossaries of terms and gestures will be useful and necessary. . . .For connoisseurs of this dance form, dance descriptions provide an opportunity to experience the rasa without seeing (or perhaps by imagining) the performance. . . .[The author] includes vignettes of her research experiences. She moves from one of bharata natyam's most celebrated exponents, Balasaraswati, to the much less-known Tehreema Mitha, categorizing performances as primarily devotional, educational, or cultural. In a final section she discusses what she calls 'performed pluralism,' echoing arguments about India's 'unity in diversity' and 'the one and the many.' Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; professionals
