ABSTRACT
Performing in public or in front of men was once seen as incompatible with domestic respectability and marriage in south Asia, and traditional professional female performers consisted overwhelmingly of courtesans or dancing girls of various kinds, or cross-dressed boys and men. These included those who identified as female, and who might therefore be understood in modern-day terms as men who have sex with men, transgender or queer. In this chapter, I explore the value of dance to individuals known as kothi in north India as not just a livelihood, but a space to be sensuously, erotically and bodily female, and to be recognised as such, albeit transiently. I explore how these spaces have shrunk as ‘respectable’ women have been able to become performers, and the consequences and alternatives for kothis. I also consider dance and performing arts as a site for LGBTQ advocacy, considering the towering role of gender and sexual minorities including cross-dressed performers and courtesans in Indian performing arts.
