ABSTRACT
My initial foray into the art form of Bharatnatyam was at the tender age of three. For a child of that age, dance is not perceived as an art form or a vehicle to spiritual realization; neither is it a means to attain aesthetic bliss. As a matter of fact I don’t think it “meant” anything at all to me; it was only about accurately mimicking my teacher’s gestures and movements. When other children my age spent their evenings with slides and swings in parks, I spent them with adavus and jatis in my dance class. Dance was the only thing I knew, and dance was the only thing I did. My initiation into the field of professional dancing was when I set foot in the indisputable home of classical Indian dance in India: Nalanda Nrtyakala Mahavidyalaya. It was at Nalanda (as it is popularly called) that I was first introduced to the theoretical as well as practical aspects of the art form. However, I belong to a world that has become a phenomenon of globalization and global networking, a world where horizons keep stretching a little further and boundaries collapse. I was fortunate that my intuitive quest to broaden my horizons with respect to this art form was supported by the technological phenomenon of our age: the internet. Thanks to the World Wide Web, I secured a place in the M.A. South Asian Dance Studies program offered by Roehampton University, London, and soon found myself moving from the commercial capital of India, Mumbai, to the cultural capital of the world, London. My education at Roehampton opened up new vistas for me in the field of dance studies. I was intellectually stimulated and challenged when, for the first time, I was introduced to theoretical frameworks that focused on the research, history, theory, and practice of the form. The history of Bharatnatyam was examined from the framework of global modernities and transnationalism. Having had the privilege and opportunity to study dance history in both India and the UK, I am empowered to describe the similarities and differences in the two pedagogical approaches to Bharatnatyam. I will therefore adopt a local/global perspective and discuss questions revolving around the history and historiography of the art form.
