Dancing Bodies of Devotion (eBook)

Fluid Gestures in Bharata Natyam

Katherine C. Zubko (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2014
264 Seiten
Lexington Books (Verlag)
978-0-7391-8729-6 (ISBN)

Infos

This ethnography examines how contemporary dancers of Bharata Natyam, a traditionally Hindu storytelling dance form, embody Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Jain narratives. 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 are able to co-exist.

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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.

Autor

Katherine C. Zubko is assistant professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina Asheville.

Inhalt

Part I: Religious BodiesChapter 1: Rasa: A Taste of the Divine Chapter 2: Balasaraswati and Krishna Ni Begane BaroChapter 3: Francis Barboza and Christian ThemesConclusion: Bhakti Rasa: A Re-Personalized Aesthetic of DevotionPart II: Cultural Bodies Chapter 4: Rasa and Bhakti as Indian CategoriesChapter 5: Dhananjayans’ Sanghamitrā Chapter 6: Kalai Kaviri’s Gāyatrī MantraConclusion: Is there an Indian way of dancing devotion? Part III: Ethical BodiesChapter 7: Nāṭya as Visual Education and the Ethics of RasaChapter 8: Dhananjayans’ Stree (Woman) Chapter 9: Monica Cooley’s Subhāsitam: Morality Tales of India and Bhagavad Gītā ŚabdamConclusion: An Ethics of Bhakti Rasa: Performance of a Moral Mood Part IV: Pluralistic BodiesChapter 10: Unity and Multiplicity of RasaChapter 11: Malini Srinivasan and Sufi QawwāliChapter 12: Tehreema Mitha and Ratt Jaga (The Vigil) Conclusion: Revisiting “Unity in Diversity”ConclusionGlossaryIllustrated Glossary of Gestures

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 7.8.2014
• Reihe/Serie: Studies in Body and Religion
• Zusatzinfo: 11 Illustrations including: - 11 Halftones, Black & White including Black & White Photographs.
• Verlagsort: Lanham
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Theater / Ballett
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport ► Tanzen / Tanzsport
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Hinduismus
• Schlagworte: Asian dance • Bharatanatyam • Bharata Natyam • Dance Gesture • embodied knowledge • Hindu dance • Indian classical dance • Interreligious dance • Rasa • Religious Body • Sanskrit Aesthetics • South Asian body
• ISBN-10: 0-7391-8729-5 / 0739187295
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7391-8729-6 / 9780739187296