Bharatanatyam Dance Shape Tamil Cultural Cultural Studies Essay

Bharatanatyam leap Shape Tamil Cultural Cultural Studies EssayBharatantyam has been embedded in the Tamil glossiness for centuries, transmitted from contemporaries to generation and evolving over measure to uphold its sacredness and its agency of the states traditional identity ele handst. Today Bharatanaytam has spread worldwide, performed and practiced crossways countries and accepted by some(prenominal) traditional and modern masses. However it was still after its rebirth in 1930, when the Devadasi Act was passed, and due to E. Krishna Iyers reworking of the moves movement wording into a companionablely accepted dance form (On, 2011), that Bharatanatyam gained its respectable hearty status and hence is why today it plays a crucial berth in portraying Indias heathen and traditional identity. This portrayal whitethorn be tryn as what Bourdieu would c exclusively a chassis, which is created through with(predicate) a social, sort of an private process leading to pa tterns that argon enduring and sendrable from one scene to another (Powercube, 2012). More precisely, Bharatanatyam is a social measure used to keep abreast and promote a received habitus, defining the burnishs values which are transferred both through time and across the nations, whilst also acting as a guide for the Tamil generations today. This essay analyses, ground substantially on Bourdieus habitus theory, to what extent Bharatanatyam shapes Tamil cultural identity, in snap officular abroad.Art forms in general, especially when practiced over centuries, have proven to be central to whatever articulation of ethnic identity (Hyder, cited in David, 2009) and this is even more true(a) when a population lives outside of its home nation. There were, and still are, a significant amount of Tamilians that immigrate from India and Sri Lanka to the fall in Kingdom, especially during and after the British colonialism termination. For m both Tamilians in capital of the Unite d Kingdom, especially the older generation, Bharatanatyam is the element that contains within it all of their cultural and religious identity it represents an musical themelism that they must deliver to incorporated and preserve. Bharatnayam acts as what Foster would consider an ideal body, something that the material body looks up to and tries to achieve. This ideal cultural representation in Bharatanaym has been transmitted over the days to future generations and to this day young Tamilians explain how Bharatanatyam is subprogram of their culture and prevents the culture and religion from existence forgotten, especially in the West (David, 2009). Two students, Maya and Mahumita, honor this statement by confirming that studying Bharatanatyam is their way of learning or so their cultural heritage whilst living abroad. For example, most of Bharatanatyams bodily movements and facial expressions substantiate a prominent representation of Tamil womanhood. This can be seen in sm all gestures such(prenominal) as the application of the kumkum on the forehead (in representation of the third eye), the plaiting of the hair or the folding of the sari, all symbolizing a feminized social body (David, 2009), describing how a woman should appear and behave in this cultural context. Another more specific example would be that of the heroine character, cognize as the nayika, and how she uses stylized gestures to prepare herself to meet the hero, the nayaka. Through these gestures the dance transmits an idea of femininity and grace which acts as an ideal for all Tamil women to try live up to and admire. This also links to Bourdieus concept of doxa, which is formed through a combination of unspoken norms and beliefs that are taken-for-granted assumptions or common finger stinker the distinctions we make (Powercube, 2012), which in this case is the portrayal of how women are anticipate to behave. These characteristics that Tamil women need to behold are part of an uns tated moderate that is reinforced through the dances movements and degreetelling, constantly reminding the Tamil population, and women in particular, what their role in society is. As author Ann R. David explains, for the Tamil middle class, Bharatanatyam promises respectability and a traditional femininity and is, therefore, a prized carrier of tradition (David, 2009). As a result, purity of Tamil tradition, their rituals and religion, their language and their social behaviour (such as the magnificence of womens chastity in the Tamil civilization) is upheld substantially through Bharatanatyam it is considered an influential barb used to craft social status and conduct, uniting Tamil cultural identity across the world.However, first-generation Tamil immigrants, and especially Tamil Hindoo groups, are concerned that the external contracts of the West may overwhelm the junior generations and arrive at them to lose sight of their national identity as Tamilians. In lodge to pr eserve this sense of cultural identity, several schools have been built abroad to get on and indulge the youth in their Tamil culture, ensuring that their roots are not forgotten. These classes would, according to Ann R. David, allow the transmission of traditional culture and uphold immigrants in maintaining Tamil identity in local anesthetic diasporic checktings where the acquisition of Tamil social, cultural, and religious values does not necessarily take place (David, 2009). to the highest degree Sri Lankan Tamil temples and Tamil weekend classes in London are light-emitting diode by Tamil conservationists who try to stay true to their cultural identity by discouraging their dance pupils to attend international performances to keep them from any outside influences. In addition, most of the syllabus is written and taught in Tamil, patronage the point that the second generations are likely to have grown up with English as their first language given their educational and soci al context. This obsession to ensure that Bharatanatyam is practised and incorporated in the lives of immigrated Tamilians means that, as a result, the dance now bears more rituals and ceremonies attached to it today than it had during the period of its revival (David, 2009). For example, the offering of flowers on stage, known as pushpanjali, and the dedication of bells on the stage are common rituals now that were not required previously in Bharatanatyam. As part of their cultural essentialism, none of the teachers in the London Tamil temples have introduced any creative or slightly wrongful material to their students, ensuring that the history of the dance is untouched in order to transfer a pure concept of their Tamil cultural identity. This may be considered as what Bourdieu refers to as misrecognition, similar to Marxs concept of false consciousness, which is the conscious purpose of a certain group or individual. In this case, the conservationists use Bharatanatyam to enco urage certain social pressures that have been accepted without questioning such as, as previously discussed, the role of obedient women in the Tamil society. hardly is this pressure of preserving Tamil traditions through Bharatanatyam having the contrary effect and pushing away the younger generations from exploring their cultural identity? Some may argue yes, as certain teachers and practitioners, mostly in other countries in Europe and in atomic number 7 America, support Tamil nationalism through change and development. Aided and support by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), Tamil Sri Lankan nationalism in particular is further to evolve through more creative Bharatanatyam choreographies. For example, a Bharatanatyam piece was choreographed narrating the story of a military woman who sacrifices her male relatives to be a part of the Sri Lankan war. These types of narrations are unconventional compared to any of the traditional Bharatanatyam stories which usually invol ve Gods and their family with mankind. Another example would be the Akademi centre today whose goal is to round received aesthetic definitions of the traditional and classical through strategic acts of cultural translation and situate Indian dance on the multicultural map out of Great Britain (Meduri, 2004). and so, this modernising of Bharatanatyam and the use of its representative symbolic movements to express contemporary concerns is sacking against the work of the preservationists. This contemporary development of Bharatanayam can be seen as creating a new, more current and perhaps world-wide cultural identity.This sense of global identity seems to be growing, even in Britain, especially amongst the second generation as they have no strong, direct ties to their homeland. They hence tend to see themselves more as British, British Asian or British Hindu citizens who are made up of both cultures, yet belong strongly to neither. These young Tamilians are part of a global yout h culture (Saldanha, cited in David, 2009) which means they hold a global identity, unlike their senior relatives who struggle to maintain their traditional cultural identity whilst living in a different country amidst a completely different set of values. In the late 20th century all Indian dance forms were put under the label of southerly Asian dance, despite the fact that South Asia evidently consists of some(prenominal) more countries than just India, hence not only creating a rather vague category for these Indian dances, only if also merging internationalism with nationalism. The specific classical dance Bharatantyam being thrown amidst numerous other Indian dances and renamed as a part of a South Asian dance was a huge move point as it enlarged the Indian label and made plain the diverse dance, performance, and theatre practices of the Indian/Asian diaspora (Meduri, 2004). But some Bharatanatyam dancers and teachers, such as Mira Kaushik, encouraged this relocation of Bh aratanatyam dance within the broader category of South Asian dance. Kaushik claimed that although Indian dance might look Indian, it is South Asian dance in the United Kingdom because it is performed not just by immigrant dancers from India but by hundreds of South Asian dancers belonging to the different nations of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, and Africa (Meduri, 2004). virtuoso may argue that Kaushik challenges the idea that Bharatanatyam is specially reserved for Tamilians as their pedigree of cultural identity she brings a whole new concept to Bharatanatyam by suggesting that it can appeal, be understood and performed by many other nationalities. This refine therefore alters and reshapes the key tool Bharatanatyam that traditionally promotes the estalished Tamil habitus. By reintegrating Bharatanaytam with a more futuristic and contemporary aspect, it challenges the cultures original habitus and its centuries of unquestioned customs.Therefore Bharatnatyam m ay actually be seen as a source of creativeness and as a catalyst for a new global identity, rather than a source of tradition and preservation of a purely Tamil identity. Bharatnayam has been adopted and reworked since the very beginning of the 1900s by the West, especially in the United States to begin with. For example, in 1906 Ruth St. Denis, the co-founder of the dance company Denishawn, was hugely shake up by South Asian dance and she immersed herself in Indian belles-lettres and culture. She used these resources to later on choreograph dance pieces, such as Incense, The Legend of the Peacock, Radha and further on group productions such as The transverse flute of Krishna in the 1920s. Another distinct dance pioneer, La Meri, even created a rendition of Swan Lake through Bharatanatyam vocabulary. particularly since the 1930s, Bharatnayam has opened up, as men now feel comfortable to interpret womanly roles, whilst also many dancers from outside of the Tamil nationality hav e began practicing Bharatanatyam, even to a professional level.But does this globalisation of Bharatanatyam necessarily affect the preservation and the influence it has on the Tamil population and their cultural identity? Rather on the contrary, although Bharatantyam has been increasingly globalised since the archaean 1900s, the dance itself to this day remains associated with tradition and symbolism. Both in local Indian communities and abroad, Bharatanatyam is an art that globally and continually promotes the habitus of the Tamil partnership and its values whether a non-Tamilian dances it, whether a contemporary story is being told or whether a man dances a womans character the movement vocabulary and the concepts behind the dance remains the same for example, even the interpretation of Swan Lake by Le Meri through Bharatanaym essentially needs to use the dances symbolized codes to tell the story. Bharatanatyam is based intricately on traditional meanings, and therefore whatev er context it may be placed in, it will stay true to its Tamil origin. Especially in countries such as Britain and Indonesia where the Tamil population is significant, Bharatanatyam remains a key pathway to not only identify themselves with their distant Tamil customs and embody their cultures habitus, but to spread it worldwide.Word count 2,005