Cross-Cultural Influence on the Kinesics of Indian Dance

Cross-Cultural Influence on the Kinesics of Indian Dance
- A Paper submitted by Kuchipudi Dancer Lalitha Sindhuri May 2016

Fine Arts in India were an integral part of life of the common man. Despite having had great patronage from kings and having had a great taste in the people for arts, ‘Art’ in India especially dance was weaved around with many misconceptions, suppressions and an inferior outlook. But after the Independence, Indian arts became the identity of national heritage. In order to showcase the greatness of India to the world especially to the West, Western ideologies like ‘Classicism’, ‘Refinement’, were taken to set the standards. Moreover there were endeavours to find the essence of spirituality in dance. At this juncture of time, the entry of woman, woman of upper class in particular into dance brought a lot of difference to the form. They worked in bringing respect to the Indian Dance.

The Christianized ideology during the colonial rule didn’t appreciate the sensuality in Indian Dance especially in the dance of Devadasis¹. Hence the sensual body language was deliberately eliminated. Almost all the art forms transformed themselves to suit the contemporary aspirations.

Cross cultural influences here refers to both the western influence on Indian Dance and also the influences of one form on the other among the native forms and the gender reflections. In order to discuss the influences and transformations, we ought to understand the existing kinesics of the forms before independence. The kinesics in dance always suited and reflected the then current social norms of the body language. The body language of the people has the influence of different cultures on them. For instance if we take Sadir attam² into account, the body language of the devadasis was inward, soft, immersing into themselves epitomizing a dancer dancing for herself or for the god. This reflects the body language of the then women who were into themselves, shy, who never popped out their chest and walked and who always covered their shoulders (and face in Northern parts of India) with the sarees.

Even in the male oriented art forms like Kuchipudi, the men donned as women, reflected only the introvert body language of the then women but not the inherent masculine personality. In the male dominant society, women are expected to avert their eyes in the presence of men, or walk a few steps behind him. These are reflected in the dances too like the heroine feeling shy in the presence of her husband, hiding her face with hands etc. The culture of the west gradually influenced the Indian society. The ideologies like ‘women and men are equal’ and ‘education to women’ made their body language more confident and fearless. It was not a sudden transformation.

Though there is Angikabhinaya in Indian Dance, the principle behind the communication of Rasa or the emotion is that it arises from Sattva (or the heart) and is communicated through your face, the Western philosophy of expressing the emotion with your body started influencing the manifestation of Rasa in Indian dance forms. In terms of space, Indian art forms moved from temples and private spaces to proscenium stage (Roman Origin). This would also have been the other reason for the emphasis on an extended body language. Hence people started revisiting the roots of their forms and also grabbed good points from other forms in order to give the mood of the character not just to the face of the dancer but to the body and bodily movements of the dancer too. This is another aspect of Cross Cultural influence of the forms like the forms within the country started influencing each other.

While Odissi formulated its form with the background of Gotipua³, Odissi and Bharatnatyam influenced Kuchipudi, Bharatnatyam drew some elements from Kathakali and the male dancers were trained in Kalaripayattu⁴. Another influence of the west on us is the subtlety and refinement of the expressions. The abhinaya of today’s dancer is far different from the dancer of the earlier days. The following illustration gives an authentic idea of Late Smt. Rukmini Devi Arundale on body and Bharatnatyam. “Rukmini Devi’s intent was not to change the basis of the style. She was overwhelmed in fact by the beauty of it. But she was exposed to the body technique of Western ballet and had an instinctive reaction to movements that seemed cramped or contained. She understood the use of body and perceived the possibilities within the existing framework. ^”5

In this way, though the principle technique of the form is the same, the body dynamics of every form expanded, the idea of understanding the inner and outer space emerged. Today, the dancers are not confined just to their own form, but started learning other forms for a better understanding of their own form. But some veterans opine that too much subtlety and refinement is leading to the loss of the very essence of Indian art i.e. the Dramatic Element. Many dancers in the name of cross cultural influence, are changing the technique of their own form. Very few dancers are preserving their own forms’ technique and welcoming the positive aspects of cross cultural influence on the forms. This kind of practices becomes productive only when the gap between the tradition and innovation is filled properly with an open mind in the dancers to preserve the legacy and at the same time, to add value to it with their endeavours.

1 A girl dedicated to the worship and sevice of the deity in the temple. They used to dance as an offering to god.
2 Ancient name of Bharatnatyam (pre-independence)
3 Acrobatic folk dance form of Orissa
4 Martial art form (warrior form) of Kerala
5 Leela Samson, Rukmini Devi, A Life, 2009, pp. 118-19
*All views presented above are of the contributor alone.

Author: Lalitha Sindhuri is a Kuchipudi Dancer who comes from a traditional family of Kuchipudi artists. She is the great granddaughter of Late Sri Vempati Venkata Narayana. She is the student of Sri Vedantam Satya Narasimha Sastry.
She completed her Engineering in Computer Science and took up her inherent ‘passion’ as ‘profession’ and successfully completed her Master of Performing Arts in Kuchipudi Dance from the University of Hyderabad which finally confirmed her path as an artist. She decided to pursue her Doctorate in dance as a Junior Research Fellow in the Department of Dance, Univeristy of Hyderabad under the able guidance of Dr. Aruna Bhikshu who herself is a famous dancer, teacher and choreographer

*Certified Original Work by Author Lalitha Sindhuri
*All views are of the contributor alone.