Movement, gesture, and sound preceded language as primary modes of human communication and expression. With the emergence of language, they evolved into nuanced and aesthetic formats of performance. Like other social institutions, all art forms constitute symbolic cultural representations, and Indian arts are no exception. Indian classical art forms have a strong affiliation with the intangible cultures of the subcontinent. In this context, the meaning of ‘traditionality’ in Indian classical dances can be viewed as a socially constructed benchmark. Within this framework, this paper positions Bharatanatyam as a dynamic product of regional sociocultural habits and perceptions of body, music, and movement. The framework draws inferences from post-structuralism, performance and performativity, cultural change, and performance studies to understand cultural embodiment in Bharatanatyam.

The core research question arises from the fact that the early teachers of Indian classical dances were men: Are Indian classical dances designed through a male view of art and artistic bodies? The discussion progresses, focusing on Bharatanatyam, where ‘performativity’ is studied across three historical phases—the Sangam to medieval periods, the Maratha period, and post-colonial India—and ‘performance’ is examined through post-colonial changes in content, musicality, and presentational styles. The research follows a performance analysis of archival and contemporary recordings, triangulated with textual sources and sociocultural studies from Tamil Nadu, to demonstrate how Bharatanatyam performance has evolved from fixated traditional models to more contextually relevant explorations. The paper concludes that negotiation between performance and performativity becomes necessary for cultural continuity.

Authors:
Subiksha Sundararaman, University of Hyderabad, India
M S Sivaraju, University of Hyderabad, India

About the Presenter(s)
Ms. Subiksha Sundararaman, PhD scholar at the Department of Dance, University of Hyderabad, India and a Bharatanatyam artiste working on the Sound-Movement analysis of Bharatanayam. Key interests include Indian Dance & culture, Movement Cognition.

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/subiksha-sundararaman-03a53b95

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

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