Session W4-2
Location: Room L101
Time: 12/27 11:00-12:30
Moderator: Ya Mei Chen
W4-2-1
The General Economy of Dancing: Choreographer Chandralekha’s subversion of breathing in yoga as practice of ascetic tradition in Hinduism into physical experiment
Presenter : Jia-yuan Tian
Abstract
The paper mainly investigates the strategy of how dancer/choreographer Chandralekha’s subversion of breathing in yoga as practice of ascetic tradition in Hinduism into the evoking of sensuality/sexuality/spirituality within the body. Firstly, by examining the fundamental premise of yoga tradition of spiritualism and how yoga practice was used by nationalist as a tool to preserve the ‘essence’ of men during the wave of nationalist movement in the early twentieth century, I propose that Chandralekha’s usage of yoga completely reverses the yogi tradition in which jiva (breath) as the storage of energy is considered to be crucial for the preserve of masculinity and sexual potency. Secondly, by locating Chandralekha’s claim that “dance is an expression of physicality” and that “the Sri Chakra is made up of so many apexes and a bindu…the bindu is the pulsating point” in the context of general economy proposed by Georges Bataille, which denotes the states of consumption without reservation, Chandralekha’s stance of dancing/breathing, I will elucidate, is in fact related to the totality of the cosmology in its base materialism.
W4-2-2
The Sattriya Dance of Assam: Tradition and Modernity, Continuity and Change
Presenter : Srijani Bhaswa Mahanta
Abstract
Dance is nothing but embodied culture. It creates new ways of perceiving and understanding oneself, other men and women, communities, societies, cultures and the world. The ‘communication function’ of dance is amply illustrated by the use it was put to, to propagate a new faith and effect socio-cultural and religious changes in the state of Assam in the 15th century.
The lecture-demonstration will use Sattriya dance as a medium to discuss the processes of producing, consuming, and participating in dance as a spectator, choreographer, or performer as intergroup phenomena. Because Sattriya culture is informed by a peculiar spatiotemporality, it becomes a communicative window for comprehending a ‘lesser-known’ geography, history and tradition. The themes of tradition and modernity, and continuity and change will be dealt with in order to interrogate the scope for social innovation and questioning in the face of new challenges, opportunities and assertions. Thought movements and dance movements have to go hand-in-hand.
Methodology and Lesson Plan:
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Use of PowerPoint presentation for visual stimuli
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Word association icebreaker — encourage one-word responses to the stimuli word ‘dance’, followed by a discussion.
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Because Sattriya is the most recent dance form to get recognised as a major Indian form by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (in the year 2000), the audience will be introduced to the socio-cultural and historical aspects of the form through lecture and slides.
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A demonstration of the ‘Nava Rasas’ - Shringara (love/beauty), Hasya (laughter), Karuna (sorrow), Raudra (anger), Veera (heroism/courage), Bhayanaka (terror/fear), Bibhatsya (disgust), Adbutha (surprise/wonder), and Shantha (peace or tranquility). The audience will be asked to guess which is which.
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Storytelling is an important part of Sattriya. A 15-minute abhinaya piece depicting the episode of vastraharana will be performed. After the performance, the audience will be asked to analyse what the problems in the characters and the story being told are. These stories and myths have to be re- examined in the light of challenges to gender norms and the banality of patriarchal and sexual violence, and rising importance being placed on the idea of consent.
Apart from this, the impact of Sattriya being an oral tradition on its theory and practice, the dance form’s journey from ‘sacred’ spaces to the ‘secular’ space of the proscenium, the marriage of desi (folk) and margi (classical) elements will be dealt with through lecture and demonstration.
W4-2-3
That Will Never Work in China: Questioning Issues of Teacher Training in Higher Education Dance Pedagogies
Presenter : Tanya Keller
Abstract
The author’s personal experience teaching ballet in China and a review of the literature reveal a gap in dance pedagogy as it is currently taught in higher education. This gap exposed inadequacies concerning the preparation of future teachers to teach in other cultures due to the limitations of traditionalistic pedagogies and lack of culturally specific knowledge. Additionally, the influence of Western ethnocentrism requires assessment in the practice of dance in higher education, specifically regarding world dance practices and culturally relevant teaching. This article suggests that recognizing the gaps of teacher preparation is necessary if future teachers are to become effective drivers of innovation in global dance education.
W4-2-4
In Search of Identity: Between Traditional and Contemporary Trends in North Indian Dance Kathak
Presenter : Kristina Dolinina
Abstract
Along with ongoing evolution of art forms, influenced by changing environment and individual creative reality, there are ongoing evaluation processes, guided by dancing community, patron/institution and audience that are constantly framing the art forms in between the dichotomies of classical or not, authentic or not, historical or not, timeless or not. The criterion for the evaluation is nothing else but the proportion of permanent and variable constituents of the artistic tradition. Thus, the examination always “results in the discussions of “what must be fixed” versus “what can be changed”, and “what has to remain the same as earlier” versus “what kind of innovations” could be made without violating the very “nature” of given art form” (Ryzhakova, 2016, p. 100). Like in any other art, in Kathak the dance technique, the aesthetics of movement and proper visual representation of suitable content are the main indicators of value and triggers of polemics.
The paper is an attempt to examine the relations between tradition and transformation and to distinguish traditional and contemporary tendencies in Kathak through the perspective of identity formation /identification. It raises such questions as: How does the evaluation process happen and what is the impact of identity aspect? How is the relation between tradition and transformation influenced by knowledge transmission system with its inner identifications of “who is who”? How are dancers “reappropriating” the tradition and creating artistic reality with the “new meaning” (Rice, 1996, p. 117)? And what are the limits of individual artistic vision within the tradition and who sets them?
