Engendering Performance : Indian Women Performers in Search of an Identity

The book is a comprehensive critical history of women performers in Indian theatre and dance of the colonial and postcolonial periods. Its underlying premise is that one cannot evaluate performance in the Indian context without looking at dance and theatre together, unlike the course taken by traditional scholarship. Issues of sexuality and colonialism, and culture and society come together in this study to provide a holistic account of women performers in India.New information and insights have been provided in the discourse by a close reading of archival materials, field surveys, and extensive interviews, which are the distinguishing features of this book. The book is divided into two sections. The first one is on the Actress, while the second is on the Danseuse in the Indian context. Although linked by the common trajectory of having been part of the same history, society, and culture, they emerge as having evolved in different ways as they encountered some common but many unique situations.In trying to balance a historical narrative with emphasis on crucial individual topics, the book explores the theme of identity and body politics. It demands a pluralistic approach combining history, economics, cultural studies, popular culture, anthropology, ethnography, and feminist criticism. It will be a rich resource for professionals, scholars, and students specializing in performing arts, cultural studies, gender studies, and history. Archival photographs – some of which have never been published before – make this book a collector's item This book is a comprehensive critical history of women artistes in Indian theatre and dance of the colonial and post-colonial periods. Its underlying premise is that one cannot evaluate such performances in the Indian context without looking at dance and theatre together, unlike the course taken by traditional scholarship. The author weaves together issues of sexuality and colonialism, and culture and society to provide a holistic account of women performers in India. The distinguishing features of this book are: a close reading of archival materials, field surveys and extensive interviews that provide new information and insights. The book is divided into two sections, on the Actress and on the Danseuse, and displays how the two evolved in different ways. In doing this, it explores the theme of identity and body politics, while simultaneously balancing a historical narrative with emphasis on crucial individual topics. The book adopts a pluralistic approach combining history, economics, cultural studies, popular culture, anthropology, ethnography and feminist criticism. Archival photographs—some of which have never been published before—make it a collector's item. Actresses Of The Colonial Space: English Actresses In India (1789-1842) -- Locating A New Space And Identity: Coming Of The Indian Actresses (1872-1910) -- The People's Actress: A Journey To Modernity -- Actresses In The Jatra Space -- Natyasastra: Emerging (gender) Codes And The Woman Dancer -- The Body And The Woman Dancer: What She Is, Or What She Is Expected To Be -- Emergence Of The Contemporary Woman Dancer: Contribution Of Tagore, Shankar, And Ipta -- Tale Of The Professional Woman Dancer In Folk Traditions In India: Commodification Of Dance And The Traditional Dancing Women. Bishnupriya Dutt, Urmimala Sarkar Munsi. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents 7 List of Photographs 9 Foreword 11 Acknowledgements 13 Introduction 15 Section I: The Story of the Actress 22 1 - Actresses of the Colonial Space 24 2 - Locating a New Space and Identity 68 3 - The People’s Actress 107 4 - Actresses in the Jatra Space 142 Section II: Of the Women Dancer 184 5 - Natyasastra 186 6 - The Body and the Woman Dancer 206 7 - Emergence of the Contemporary Woman Dancer 230 8 - Tale of the Professional Woman Dancer in Folk Traditions in India 254 Conclusion: In Conversation with Samik Bandyopadhyay 288 Bibliography 311 Index 318 About the Authors 325 This is a comprehensive critical history of women performers in Indian theatre and dance of the colonial and postcolonial periods. Its underlying premise is that one cannot evaluate performance in the Indian context without looking at dance and theatre together, unlike the course taken by traditional scholarship