ABSTRACT
Indian performance forms are rich, disparate, both “dance” and “theatre” at the same time, often combined with “ritual,” somewhere between “classical” and “folk,” blending Sanskrit “high culture” with regional “folklore,” in several areas subject to change of “styles” from village to village. Some researchers try to differentiate between “classical traditions and [their] predecessors,” “devotional traditions,” “folk-popular traditions,” “dance-dramas and dramatic dances” and “traditions of modern theatre” (see Richmond, Swann and Zarrilli 1990). Others distinguish between “‘ballad’ forms,” “cycle plays” and “miracle plays” (see Vatsyayan 2005 [1980]), or make out narrative forms, ritual-related and highly pluralized ones (see Yarrow 2001). As they are “traditional” in the sense of a constantly changing, living tradition, they can neither be simply “catalogued” nor defined for all time. A respective binding “norm” of contents and performance parameters is difficult to grasp, as the boundaries and outer areas are in constant negotiation and in conjunction with the “norms” of other social-cultural kinds. However, they exist and play a significant role.
