Illicit Worlds of Indian Dance: Cultures of Exclusion
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.75 (873 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0199343543 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-04-15 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Illicit Worlds of Indian Dance deals with a wide-ranging set of dance sectors including female hereditary performers, bar dancers, transgender erotic performers and kothi dancers, interpreting the author's rich ethnographic detail through a variety of theoretical lenses. Walker, Ethnomusicology Forum"Anna Morcom's masterful weaving of historical and ethnographic details into a powerful and compelling narrative of India's rich traditions of erotic dance challenges its readers to reconsider old information and formulate new questions. Abdi, Gulf News, 2014"Anna Morcom's extensively researched book moves away from the world of classical Indian dances like Bharatanatyam, Kathak associated with religion and sanctioned as acceptable. Abdi, Gulf News, 2014"Anna Mo
Anna Morcom works on music and dance in India and Tibet from a number of perspectives pertaining to modernity and the contemporary world. She is a lecturer in the Music Department at Royal Holloway, University of London.. Her publications include Hindi Film Songs and the Cinema and Unity and Discord: Music and Politics in Contemporary Tibet
Meanwhile, upper-class, upper-caste women have taken control of the classical performing arts and also entered the film industry, while a Bollywood dance and fitness craze has recently swept middle class India. In her historical on-the-ground study, Anna Morcom investigates the emergence of illicit worlds of dance in the shadow of India's official performing arts. Since the late nineteenth century the status, livelihood and identity of these performers have all diminished, with the result that many of them have become involved in sexual transactions and sexualised performances. She explores over a century of marginalisation of courtesans, dancing girls, bar girls and transgender performers, and de- scribes their lives as they struggle with stigmatisation, derision and loss of livelihood.. Until the 1930s no woman could perform in public and retain respectability in India. Women's roles were often also taken by boys and men, some of whom were simply female impersonators, others transgender. Professional female performers were courtesans and dancing g
Marguerite Barnett said Five Stars. Unusual for lovers of dance history.