Revealed by Fire: An Embodied Narrative of Transformation

• Published in: Asian journal of women's studies 2003-01, Vol.9 (3), p.101-106
• Main Author: McNaughton, Susan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asian Americans; Asian people; Culture; Dance; Death & dying; Entertainment; Families & family life; Human relations; Interpersonal communication; Life; Lifetime; Minority & ethnic groups; Modern dance; Mortality; Personal relationships; Theater
• ISSN: 1225-9276; 2377-004X
• DOI: 10.1080/12259276.2003.11665954

Dance forms in particular have long been regarded as the `ideological metaphor of India.' As its name suggests, Bharatanatyam (dance of India) is an aesthetic and cultural symbol, imbued with moral and ethical assumptions that limit the practitioners to a highly formulaic code of training and performance conduct. The historical trajectory of the Bharatanatyam dancer's transformation from dancing temple icon, to social scapegoat to that of an artist working in a global context is elaborate and convoluted (Foster, 1992). My questions were: How has the hybridized version of this dance form reconfigured the social spaces in which it gets practiced and performed? What kind of impact has it made on the dancers, who consider themselves as `working within the tradition,' that is, with the classical Bharatanatyam movement repertoire? How is the gap between its elaborate symbolic movement vernacular and the interests of the dancers and choreographers working today being negotiated? My research into South Asian classical dance revealed that it is part of a larger discourse through which alternative cultural values work to transform a hegemonic process that emanates out of South Asian cultural heritage. The crossing of boundaries between popular interpretations and the lineage of classical tradition reveals internal divisions and discrepant discourses, rendering primary identities ambiguous within the diasporic South Asian or post colonial artistic community. Grappling with the creative space between tradition and innovation, [Pada] was resistant to making the dance autobiographical and felt that the theme should be dealt with allegorically. As her guru pointed out, "Why would you tell your story onstage? It is the lives of the gods and goddesses who must be celebrated." "He thought I was bringing the work to a mundane level by telling my own story, and somehow cheapening the art form as a result. I knew I would be breaking with cultural conditioning with this work: my own and my audience's." In a post-production conversation, Lata explained: "It was December 1999 when I realized that this work was about me, but I was still playing it safe. Not until August 2000, did I actually decide to be specific in telling my own story. This was hugely liberating." Revealed by Fire subverts the totalizing discourse surrounding the hereditary lineage of South Asian dance tradition in which the performance of religious and devotional expression is valued over the life experience of