"Nāṭya From Within": A Practical Theology-Based Analysis of Classical Indian Dance Pedagogy in the United States Open Access

Devarajan, Arthi (2010)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/x059c743t?locale=en
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Abstract


"Nāṭya From Within":
A Practical Theology-Based Analysis of
Classical Indian Dance Pedagogy in the United States
by Arthi Devarajan
This dissertation analyzes pedagogies of classical South Indian dance in the
United States, to determine the ways that pedagogical practices create and inform
theology, social organization, and religious and cultural identity for participating dance
communities. The primary theoretical framework guiding the research of this dissertation
comes from practical theology - namely, the study of religious practices as living,
prescriptive negotiations of communal value. The dissertation features ethnographic
research at three field sites: the Natyanjali School of Dance (a suburban, primarily South
Indian community in Andover, MA), the Fine Arts Society Natya-Adhyayana-Gurukulam
(a residential summer camp in rural Virginia focused on Bharata Natyam, a classical
South Indian genre of dance), and the Triveni School of Dance (an urban, ethnically
diverse community of dancers in Boston). Through performance analysis and the study
of dancers' narratives, I explore how embodied practice, discursive exchange, social
organization, performance, and imagination combine to form frameworks of religious and
ethical knowledge in these communities. I conclude that through teaching and learning
dance, communities of dancers negotiate a practical theology - social values and
hierarchy, ethics, and religious identity - particular to the American Hindu diaspora.
Dance, in this context, creates a matrix of social and ethical principles informed by bodily
practice, experience, and imagination, as well as traditional sources of Hindu religious
authority such as religious narrative, ritual, sacred image, and canonical scripture.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction…………......................................…..………….….. 1

Chapter 2. The Creative Margins: Theory and Method

for the Study of Dance Practices……............................................….. 33

Chapter 3. The Religious and Social Education of Dance:

Pedagogic, Interpretive, and Devotional Practices

at the Natyanjali School of Dance…….....………………….......................... 91

Chapter 4. Building Imaginative Landscapes

through Practices of Dance:

the Natya-Adhyayana-Gurukulam…………………..........……....….........….. 168

Chapter 5. Performing Identity: Practices of Interpretation, Achievement,

and Belonging at the Triveni School of Dance………….....................….. 245

Chapter 6. Epilogue: Notes on Ethnographic Responsibility

and Friendship in the Field…..…..................................................... 335

Chapter 7. Conclusions: The Value of Practical Theology in the

Study of Dance…......................................................................... 345

Illustrations……........................................................................... 370

Appendices…………………................................................................ 373

Glossary……………......................................................................... 380

Bibliography…………….…................................................................ 396

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