Contemporary Garden Sheds

Rigid dichotomies

01.01.70

Within Indian dance, there are several traditional and indigenous dance forms. Relatively recently, more and more Indian dancers have been exposed to western classical ballet, modern dance and what is loosely termed as western contemporary dance. The mixing of two indigenous Indian dance forms, of classical western and Indian forms, or even of Indian traditions and western modernist dance have resulted in a genre called ‘Indian contemporary dance', which may also involve deconstructing Indian traditional and western modernist forms in an Indian context. This genre personifies hybridity in Indian dance.

Presenting this hybridity has been somewhat problematic in India. The traditional Indian and modern western forms have both found patrons and practitioners within India. But as they found their distinctive spaces in the world of Indian dance, they opposed each other in a contradictory and dichotomous manner. Moreover, this dichotomy increasingly appeared to be uncompromisingly rigid. This rigidity has persisted over the years, and is reinforced by both the traditional-classical and modernist-‘westernised' communities of dancers. Many classical dancers question the need for contemporary inputs into Indian dance, claiming that there is enough value and richness in Indian traditions. In turn, some modern dancers question the contemporary relevance of the ancient poetry, the mythological and religious narratives. Thus the dichotomy becomes normalised and hybridity becomes problematised.

Source: The Hindu