Dancer from the dance: Shobana Jeyasingh’s empowered hybrid woman

This thesis investigates the representation of female emancipation through the complex interaction between the Bharata Natyam performer’s dancing body and the postmodern and postcolonial space that the diasporic Indian woman occupies in Britain. Beginning with an examination concerning the historical rise of the female Bharata Natyam performer, this discourse provides a contextual and analytical framework for the critical exploration of Shobana Jeyasingh’s contemporary choreography. The intention of this is to recognise that throughout antiquity, and as mentioned in several historical and religious Hindu texts, the South Asian woman has been responsible for articulating a vocabulary that assisted in elevating the status of the female Bharata Natyam dancer. This work also considers the decline of the female Bharata Natyam performer, as seen in 1892 through the “interference” of the coloniser and how this, in a curious subversion, gave rise to the rebirth of a dying art by female dance practitioners as Tanjore Balasaraswati (1918-84) and Rukmini Devi (1904-86). Further, this section investigates the influence of gender identity and the identity of the Indian nation through the efforts of the women mentioned above and how they were concerned in exalting the position of the female performer.

Drawing upon this contextual scaffolding, the second half of the thesis explores Jeyasingh’s biographical narratives and questions how her migratory journeys are replicated in her contemporary arrangements. Through an examination of these constructions, the thesis explores Jeyasingh’s representation of the female migrant as positioned “inside” the geo-cultural boundaries of Britain and how her and her daughter’s or daughters’ identities denote a modification to Bharata Natyam. The compositions analysed range from Jeyasingh’s Making of Maps, from 1992, to more recent arrangements like Faultline, staged in 2007. Finally, the thesis attempts to contribute to the academic discourse through its discussion of how the diasporic female dancer exhibits an empowered hybrid vocabulary that is associated with both the “past” and “present”.