Reflecting changes in performing arts over time

: Bharatanatyam as a case study

Abstract

The core objective of this dissertation is to study how an art form reconstructs itself through potential challenges. The main case study for this dissertation is Bharatanatyam, an ancient dance form performed originated in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India in the 4th century (Banerjee 2013; Sangeetha and Ragothaman, 2014). Bharatanatyam has been very adaptive towards change. This adaptive nature has helped this art form to stay alive and still be relevant even after so many centuries. I propose that performing arts work as a tool which restructures itself with time. The enhancement of digital culture has worked as one of the catalysts for the reconstruction of Bharatanatyam. Artists are consistently transforming their ways of presenting their art forms to the spectators (Fischer, 2016). Such transformations have pushed them to think about their art form in a different light. These changes in platforms also affect the dance form as it brings changes to the dance form like introduction of novel hand gestures, literature, music, choreography and themes. This is not an exhaustive list of changes.
The research methodology used here is a qualitative analysis. I have used recently produced dance videos by independent artists and a few social media campaigns as my case studies. I have selected eight examples from my main case study Bharatanatyam. I have analyzed the above case studies using a comparative approach. Here, I demonstrate how Bharatanatyam has brought a change in the cultural process of representation, structure and themes. First, I will introduce certain aspects of performing arts and try to show how it transforms with the help of different factors like movements, themes, rhythm, costume, perspectives, and schemes. This negotiation of different atmosphere has created a new dimension for performing artists to make new relation with the society and hence connect to a wider audience. This new relation is as much spatial (global) as it is temporal (across ages). These two dimensions make the phenomenon of change, complex.
Subsequently, I will show how a performing space (Rogers 2012) has played a major role in bringing about the changes, which have occurred in the dance form and if we can re-enforce a strong relationship between body and performing space.

Date of Award	19 Jul 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Peter Hanenberg (Supervisor)