sooraj subramaniam

Reflections of an Indian Dancer features three out of the several dance styles recognised officially as classical in India. While such classification isn't without its problems, it is used here to give the sense of studied practice and codified grammar. Since the work itself is not encyclopaedic, below is a broad overview of the historical backgrounds of classical Indian dance.

Bharatanatyam hails from the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and is perhaps the most globally popular of the styles. 

Odissi was born in the east-Indian state of Odisha, and was revived from much obscurity through the study of scriptures, paintings, poetry and temple sculptures. 

The practice of Kathak spanned from east to west across the northern regions of India, and carries influences from Hindu and Mughal cultures. 

All three styles began in ritual activities and storytelling related to temple worship, performed predominantly by female hereditary performers. Over the centuries the styles came to be associated with royal patronage, during which time they were formalised and expanded, becoming richer through the cross-pollination of various cultures and aesthetics—religious or secular, prosaic or poetic, Hindu or Muslim.

During the British colonisation of India, traditional dance forms suffered much turbulence, their practices being banned from the temples and courts, and their hereditary performers maligned by the prevailing socio-politics as immoral. 

India’s independence movement generated a tide of revival and reformation of these styles from the early 1900s, ushering them onto the proscenium stage. Many ideas were borrowed from western theatre production, not least being the appropriation of the term classical, branding the styles as ‘high art’ in order to garner respect and popularity. The dances were painted with romanticised antiquity, lending them the sanctity of myth and purity. Although hereditary artists remained marginalised throughout, the process opened up the practice of dance to people from other backgrounds.

Despite these political and contentious changes, the styles now enjoy widespread success across the international diaspora. Contemporary iterations of these styles are imbued as much by traditional concepts as they are by narratives that are personal or political.