Dancing in the Diaspora: An Investigation of Contemporary Indian Dance Practices

Abstract

My research focus is to develop my own personal choreographic voice by contextualizing and investigating the works of three contemporary Indian dance choreographers in the diaspora who have trained in the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam-Anita Ratnam, Hari Krishnan and Shobana Jeyasingh. The three dance practitioners, although with similar backgrounds, have embarked on three different creative routes and reached different destinations in terms of cultural and artistic productions. My research is directed to understanding how they have adapted the embodied knowledge of this classical dance form to create a contemporary dance language through their works. I will gather this knowledge and channel my findings to inform my own work as an emerging contemporary dance artist. Through a practice-led research producing three new dance works, I will activate my research findings and incorporate them into my evolving choreographic process.