"An illuminating investigation into the 'professionalization' of classical Indian dance forms in Britain, Towards a British Natyam critically analyzes the cultural, social, and political frameworks that make a 'profession' within the arts possible, highlighting the transformational power of classical Indian dance within society to decenter white supremacy and recenter pluriversality"--
The story of the emerging professionalization of classical Indian dance forms in Britain is wrought with contradictions. Though becoming increasingly popular within mainstream culture, the forms lack the clear routes to vocational training so essential for creating a dance career in the traditional sense. Towards a British Natyam uses this lens to analyze the cultural, social, and political frameworks that make a profession possible within the arts. Innovatively drawing on the work of decolonial theorists and the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, Gorringe illuminates the transformative potential of a classical Indian dance profession to decenter white supremacist modes of knowledge formation and recenter pluriversality.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Flourishing or Fragile? The Contradictory Context of Classical
Indian Dance Forms in Britain
Chapter
1. Context: The BBC Young Dancer and the Professionalisation of
South Asian Dance in Britain: A Snapshot of the Sector and Its Place within
British Dance
Chapter
2. Professionalism :Of Work, Love and Money: Living to Dance or
Dancing to Live? What It Means to Be a Professional Classical Indian Dance
Artist in Britain
Chapter
3. Learning: Migration, Identity, and Making Professional Dancers
Chapter
4. Livelihood, Learning, Embodiment: Technical Habitus, Classical
Indian Dance Forms and the Limits of the Versatile Dancer
Chapter
5. Legitimacy: Professionalising Classical Indian Dance in Britain
and Entering the National Cultural Canon
Conclusion: Part of the British DNA?
Appendix I: List of Judges and Mentors for the BBC Young Dancer
Appendix II: Table of South Asian Dance Tuition in British HE Institutions
Appendix III: Table of Members of the South Asian Dance Alliance
Appendix IV: Project Interlocutors
Bibliography
Magdalen Gorringe is a dancer, arts manager, writer, and independent researcher. She grew up in India, where she trained in bharatanatyam, before going on to acquire a B.A. in Theology and Religious Studies from Cambridge University and a MPhil in Classical Indian Religions from Oxford University. She subsequently spent over twenty-five years working as a bharatanatyam dancer in Britain, employed variously as a performer, teacher, workshop leader, and producer. A recipient of a Vice-Chancellor's scholarship from the University of Roehampton, she gained her doctorate in 2021 with a thesis on classical Indian dance forms in Britain.
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