Unbalancing the Authentic/Partnering Classicism: Shobana Jeyasingh’s Choreography and the Bharata Natyam ‘Tradition’

Abstract

Ismene Brown’s effusive review raises questions about the perception of South Asian and South Asian-derived dance in Britain today. Even as Shobana Jeyasingh and other choreographers experiment with Indian classical vocabularies and integrate themselves into the mainstream of British dance, an enduring Orientalism inflects the reception of their work. In reviews like Brown’s, the classical dance forms that serve as these artists’ point of departure remain identified as ‘ancient’ and ‘exquisite’, despite the vicissitudes of their histories and the contingent nature of their traditionalism. Irrespective of a long history of modern dance in India, a contemporary aesthetic sensibility still aligns with Britain.¹ Moreover, the review emphasises Jeyasingh’s geographic positioning, indicating, perhaps, a mild surprise that the choreographer lives in London, a response that overlooks the global history of

The discovery of a dance language both individual and beautiful is always what choreographers are after but very few have succeeded like Shobana Jeyasingh. Trained in traditional Indian classical dance, but resident in London, she fuses exquisite ancient Asian technique and a totally modern urban British ear for music and eye for design.

(Brown, 2002, p. 6)