Bharata Natyam on the Global Stage: At Home in the World

by Janet O'Shea

One of the most popular and widely performed dance styles in India and around the world, bharata natyam has made the transition from its beginnings in the temples and courts of southern India to a highly respected international dance practice. In this study of a classical dance form, author Janet O'Shea tracks the choreographic transformations that accompanied the transfer of bharata natyam to the urban concert stage in the 1930s and 1940s.

At Home in the World situates these changes within the political debates of their time and ties the concerns of this period to present-day practice. The history of this dance is also a history of India itself, and readers can trace various national struggles over gender identity, regionalism, and globalism through O'Shea's narrative. With over 250 teachers in the United State along, bharata natyam offers a remarkable case study of how a traditional art form moves into the world.

About the Author:

Janet O'Shea is a Lecturer in Dance Studies at the University of Surrey. She is a bharata natyam practitioner who trained for over fifteen years in the style of T. Balasaraswati. She holds a PhD. in Dance History and Theory from the University of California, Riverside and an M.A. in Tamil from the University of California at Berkeley. She has written articles on bharata natyam which appear in journals such as Asian Theatre Journal, Dance Research Journal, and the Drama Review. Her forthcoming book entitled At Home in the World? Bharata Natyam on the Global Stage is to be published by Wesleyan University Press.