British Bharatanatyam: What's in a name?

- Shrikant Subramaniam
e-mail: sriks26@hotmail.co.uk

February 6, 2008

As a student of Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya, we learnt Bharatanatyam as a

cultural, spiritual and aesthetic form, along with its desi/margi1 histories, that
although Bharatanatyam is a solo classical dance originating from Tamilnadu, a
state within South India, it was part of a pan-Indian history because of its links
with Sanskrit language and history.

This double history, including the regional (Tamil) and the pan-Indian (Sanskrit)
is communicated visually in each and every performance of Bharatanatyam, performed
in India and also in the world at large. The form is easily identifiable because of
its stylistic features. These include the half-sitting posture (araimandi), bent
elbows with palms facing downwards, costumes (a silk dhoti for men and a
kanchivaram silk sari stitched as a fan-costume for women), mnemonic syllables
(sollukattu) and the accompanying poetic texts composed in several South Indian
Carnatic ragas.

But why is Indian Bharatanatyam called as 'British South Asian dance'? Perhaps
enrolling in the MA South Asian Dance Studies at Roehampton University would help
me understand the differences between Indian and British Bharatanatyam. The term,
'South Asian Dance' coming into circulation and Indian dancers performing
Bharatanatyam today in the UK being described as South Asian dancers are some of
the questions I wish to explore in this particular essay.

The cultural /textual identity of Bharatanatyam

The art of Bharatanatyam has its own rich poetry of multi-lingual compositions. The
solo items taught at Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya were compositions penned in
Sanskrit and Tamil. Fundamental to our training were the study of Sanskrit texts
such as the Natyashastra of sage Bharata (3rd century B.C to 6th century A.D),
Abhinayadarpanam of Nandikeshvara (c.1000) and the Tamil texts of Tolkappiyam
(Sangam literature) and Silappadikaram (ca.600A.D).

Bharatanatyam as an oral Tamil form emerged from the Sampradaya traditions. Dr.
Malati Agnisweran, Dr. Meenakshi Iyer, Prof. CV Chandrasekhar, guru V P Dhananjayan
always provided instruction in Tamil in their dance-teaching. My non hereditary
teachers used Tamil terminologies such as Tattamettu adavu, Kudittamettu adavu,
pacca adavu etc. Reverence to the teacher was a fundamental concept and this
centrality is emphasised in Sanskrit slokas that we recite everyday in our
training.2

However, it was Bharata's Natyshastra that received importance in the dance

pedagogy.. The technical terms for various movements of the thighs (uru karma),
shanks (jangha karma), and feet (pancha pada vidhana) were juxtaposed with the
adavus of Bharatanatyam. For example, udghatitta, a technical term mentioned in the
4th chapter of the Natyashastra titled as tandavalakshanam can be explained as
'standing on the fore-part of the feet and then touching the ground with the
heels'3 and is quite similar to the style of rendering a kudittamettu adavu in
Bharatanatyam practice. Special importance was given to learning Bharata's
aesthetic theory known as the 'Rasa Sutra' which was frequently emphasised in
various theory classes. This theory of rasa is perceived as being fundamental not
just to Bharatanatyam but to all the traditional and classical arts in India
(Vatysayan). The rasa sutra4 is a perfect combination of a dramatic cause
(vibhava), dramatic effect (anubhava) and transitory emotional states (vyabhicari
bhavas) which provides an aesthetic experience in the spectator.5

The sutras thus stipulate that the dancer/actor must not simply imitate real-life
situations. Through various dramatic causes or determinants and their voluntary and
involuntary overt expressions, a dancer/actor should communicate a particular story
to evoke emotional involvement in the spectator. The spectator who is able to
appreciate the dance in an ideal manner is described as a sahridaya (the one with a
sympathetic sensibility, the one who shares similar emotions portrayed by the
dancer/actor) on the stage. But, these emotions are not real. They are dramatised
and thus enjoyable. The spectator also understands the meaning of different
gestures, meaning of the poetical text and is thus able to relish/enjoy (rasasvada)
a dance performance.

The history of Bharatanatyam as a part of a rich Tamil culture goes back to the
history of the ancient Tamil classical texts of the Sangam age. According to
Bharatanatyam scholar Nirmala Ramachandran, "The Sangam epoch has been assigned to
the period commencing with the 5th Century BC and ending with the 4th Century AD.
The Sangam age in Tamil Literature was a period of great literary glory never to be
surpassed in the history of any literature whatsoever. It was the production of a
colossal volume of Tamil poetry in its pristine purity. The age was a period when
the arts such as dance and music and the sciences flourished alike, when the people
obtained all social amenities and when far flung trade and commerce secured to the
Tamils prosperity and power. The second century of the Christian era is called the
'Golden Age' in Tamil letters."

Bharatanatyam figures importantly in the third century classic of 'Silappadikaram.'

This epic literature deals preponderantly with music and dance and describes the
various grammatical and technical rules defining dance and music (Ramachandran,
1996). 6

Dance scholar Avanthi Meduri has explained how the early pioneers of Bharatanatyam
in the 1930s including Rukmini Devi (1908-1984) and E Krishna Iyer (1897-1968)
celebrated this double reed history of Bharatanatyam in their performance. Most
professional dancers trained in India are aware of this double Sanskrit and Tamil
history. They give voice to it in seminars and speak about it in training.
Practitioners like Lakshmi Vishwanathan, Chitra Visweswaran, Sudharani Raghupathy
and Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam as early as the 1970s, provided lectures on
Natyashastra, Silappadikaram and its connection with Bharatanatyam. They located a
double-reed Sanskrit/Tamil history for Bharatanatyam in their performances.
However, the major dissemination of this double reed history occurred in the late
1970s.

Many upper-class immigrants with science and technical degrees migrated to

countries such as UK, North America and Canada to work in computing and engineering
fields. These upper class immigrants were mainly men, and they brought their wives
along with them to the UK and North America (Janet O Shea - 2007). These immigrant
dancers like Hema Rajagopalan and Viji Prakash, established their Bharatanatyam
schools in the UK, North America, Canada and Australia. They disseminated the Tamil
and the Sanskrit history of Bharatanatyam to the diaspora (personal correspondence
with Meduri, 2007)7. Many Bharatanatyam dancers, who graduated from Nalanda Nritya
Kala Mahavidyalaya in Mumbai in the early 1990s, established their schools in the
UK and America. One of them, Jaya Ganapathy, established her school in Yorkshire,
UK in 1996 where she continues to impart training in Bharatanatyam and also teaches
the Sanskrit history and Tamil history of Bharatanatyam. While some teachers
emphasise on the Tamil history, others underscore the Sanskrit history, but most
dancers in the diaspora are aware of this double history of Bharatanatyam because
this history is inscribed in the form of Bharatanatyam and its repertoire.8

Indian Bharatanatyam re-emerges with a new name: 'British Bharatanatyam / British

South Asian dance genre'
When Bharatanatyam dancers immigrated to the UK in the late 1970s they had to
rename their Indian dance forms as South Asian dance. Scholars like Alessandra Royo
Lopez (1997), Ann David (2005), Stacey Pricket (2004) have argued that South Asia
is not a new name because Indian dance forms including Bharatanatyam were always
known as South Asian Dance in Britain. Yet this name was one among the many names
used to describe Indian dance forms which were also known by other names such as
ethnic, oriental, exotic, Asian dance forms in the 1970s. When I interviewed Mira
Kaushik, the director of the Akademi (8th May 2007), she suggested that the term
'South Asian dance' was used for Bharatanatyam by the Akademi which was
predominantly funded by the Arts Council of Britain. Akademi was established with
an aim to promote the excellence of Indian classical dance forms in Britain. When
the institution was first founded in 1979, it was called the National Academy of
Indian Dance. In 1988 the 'national' was dropped and in 1997 the name became
Akademi (South Asian Dance in the UK). Various organizations such as Kadam9 and
Sampad10 which are predominantly funded by the Arts Council of Britain, started to
use this term in the late 1990s.

Since the name was there to stay, Akademi organised a conference in London in 2004
titled 'No Man's Land: Exploring South Asian-ness' in the UK' to discuss the
usefulness of the term. On this occasion, dance scholar Andree Grau presented a
paper, entitled 'Sheltering Sky: Negotiating Identity through South Asianness.' In
her paper Grau states, "Dancers and arts officers coined the label 'South Asian
dance' probably in the late 1980s in the UK to replace the term 'Indian dance,' a
term widely accepted despite the fact that it was reductionist, and simplified the
complex Indian situation with its many cultures, religions, languages and dance
systems…Creating a label that was further generalising was done for political
reasons: practitioners argued that the dance systems falling under the category
were not practiced in India alone, and they felt that a more generic term would be
more appropriate by being somewhat more neutral. Just as the term contemporary
dance is a generic term that overlooks the differences that exist, for example,
between Graham and Release techniques and instead recognizes the similarities of
ways of making sense of the body in terms of aesthetics, or of apprehending space
and music within these techniques, South Asian dance similarly irons out
differences and foregrounds similarities" (Grau, 2004). The usefulness of the South
Asian term for Bharatanatyam is that it is broad, generic and homogenous enough to
iron out subtle differences in style (what are known as banis), and enables the
unification, standardization and neutralization of Bharatanatyam in the UK amongst
the south Asian diasporic community.

Catherine Hale (2004) states that the term was also meant perhaps to "iron out the
manifold forms, roots, artistic lineages and regional affiliations and promote a
pan-Asianness." The reasoning was that if Indian Bharatanatyam was rechristened as
'South Asian dance' it would reach out to the broader immigrant community and
enable the widespread dissemination of Bharatanatyam in Britain. South Asian dance
is an appropriate term because different ethnic and national groups from South Asia
- India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal could all find a
place within the new name. Indian immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa, who
were practising different variations of Indian classical and folk dances in the
place of their origin, could also find a place for themselves in the new
conceptualization. "If Bharatanatyam was given the label 'South Asian dance' it
would enable a prolific and a burgeoning growth of Bharatanatyam practitioners in
Britain and a Bangladeshi or a Pakistani would not feel embarrassed in learning an
Indian art form," says Anusha Subramanyam (2007).

Suffice it to say that the South Asian name attached to Indian Bharatanatyam is
both useful and problematic. It is problematic because in the practice, the dance
continues to be taught as an Indian dance form but when discussed in seminars and
conferences it is labelled as 'British South Asian dance.' Stuart Hall (1994)
argues that the cultural identity of an immigrant in the British diaspora is
fragmented. But one can argue equally that so is the case with Bharatanatyam as a
classical art form. While Tamils from India and Sri Lanka perceive Bharatanatyam as
a spiritual and a cultural art form, there are some crucial differences in the way
Bharatanatyam is taught in the Tamil temples and community centres.

British Bharatanatyam - A spiritual and a cultural form

For the Tamil and Srilankan diasporic community, Bharatanatyam is staged as a
cultural performance in the temples. They celebrate Bharatanatyam's glorious Tamil
history through such cultural performances. Ann David states that out of seven
London temples, three temples offer regular Bharatanatyam classes - the Shree
Ganapathy Temple in Wimbledon, the London Sri Murugan Temple in East Ham, and the
Sri Thiruthanigai Murugan temple in Surbiton. At the Ganapathy Wimbledon temple,
written and spoken Tamil is taught along with Hinduism, yoga, Carnatic music,
Bharatanatyam and training in playing classical Indian instruments such as the
violin, veena, mridangam, flute. For the Tamils and Srilankans, a Bharatanatyam
performance in the Shree Ganapathy temple in Wimbledon serves as a cultural
identity marker and an emblem of Tamil nationality (David, 2005).

The Bharatanatyam taught at the Sri Ammanakshi temple in Toothing, South London is
mainly conducted in Tamil and the teacher, Meenakshi Thyagarajan, an alumni from
the Kalai Kaveri College situated in Thiruchirappali, Tamilnadu seldom uses English
as a medium of instruction (personal correspondence, 2007). When I interviewed the
students from the Tamil and Srilankan diasporic community at the temple, they
seemed to be unaware of Bharatanatyam performances at other community centres and
at the mainstream venues. They were involved only in the cultural performances
organised in the temple. I also noted that most of the syllabi used are written in
Tamil and the dance classes taught in this temple is predominantly in Tamil. The
Sanskrit and pan-Indian history of Bharatanatyam discussed in the beginning, is
simply edited out, or not acknowledged.

In addition to temples, Unnikrishnan teaches Bharatanatyam at the Malayalam

Association in East Ham and Anusha Subramanyam teaches at the Maida Vale Abercon
Church hall in London. In both these venues, Unnikrishnan and Anusha transmit
traditional values embodied in the dance. At the beginning of every class,
reverence is offered both to the teacher and the Lord Nataraja, the supreme deity
of Bharatanatyam, through Sanskrit and Tamil sloka-s, drawn from the text of
Abhinayadarpanam. Although Tamil Sirlankans and Tamil diaspora students from India
attend classes in Bharatanatyam offered at the Malayalam Association centre and in
Maida Vale Abercon Church hall, it must be noted that here the instruction is not
exclusively Tamil but Sanskrit sloka-s from the Abhinayadarpanam are inserted into
the teaching.

Thus, in the temples the teaching of Bharatanatyam is predominantly in Tamil. There

is no emphasis on the Sanskrit history. In the community centres the case is
different. Bharatanatyam teachers such as Unnikrishnan and Anusha Subramanyam
provide instruction in Tamil and impart knowledge in Bharatanatyam's Sanskrit
history. To sum up, Bharatanatyam is practised as a regional form in the temples of
London and as a pan- Indian form at the community centres. However, the production
of Bharatanatyam is different in the mainstream.

British Contemporary Bharatanatyam: A new aesthetic in mainstream venues

Bharatanatyam practised in the temples and in the various community centres was
associated with a strong ethnic and religious allegiance. Such a religious
allegiance had no scope for providing Bharatanatyam with a professional status in
the main stream venues. In the mainstream venues such as Sadler's Wells and South
Bank theatre, Bharatanatyam is called as contemporary dance. Bharatanatyam is
articulated by dancers through the western notions of classicism. In order to be a
part of the native British public arena, Bharatanatyam had to undergo massive
changes in the music, costumes, vocabulary, stagecraft and the themes which could
fulfil the interests of not only Indian audiences but also attract a wider south
Asian and British audience. This pressure for Bharatanatyam practitioners in
Britain to engage with hybridity and meet western standards of performance led to
the creation of provocative work (Lopez, 2004).

Such provocative works are created by Mavin Khoo and Shobana Jeyasingh, who have
carved a name for themselves as contemporary dancers for the mainstream British
audience. Mavin Khoo's notion of contemporary Bharatanatyam is grafted on
Balanchine's principles of neo-classicism and Shobana Jeyasingh eschews the
boundaries of Indian dance classicism rooted in the Sanskrit texts such as the
Natyashastra, Abhinayadarpanam, Sangitaratnakara, Balaramabharatam. Fundamentally
Bharatanatyam has a detailed exploration of abhinaya elucidated within the context
of Bhava and Rasa. The Sanskrit manuals Natyashastra and Abhinayadarpanam expound
the technique of mukhaja abhinaya (facial expression) in voluminous detail.

Abhinaya literally means to carry the meaning of the poetic content to the
audience. Traditionally a Bharatanatyam dancer would narrate different stories
drawn from different Hindu religious myths, shifting from one character to another.
The dancer would improvise lyrics, playing on words and utilise free association of
ideas and images. This is done by a combination of facial expressions, hand
gestures and body movement. At the same time it is not a literal rendition of
mythological archetypes and it is a part of the dancer's training to become an
actor. Otherwise the presentation can become a catalogue of empty expressions and
gestures.11 But a conspicuous effort is made by the South Asian dance practitioners
to reconstruct this notion of classicism. Importance is given to strident and
raucous movements of the whole body rather than the expressive gestures and facial
expressions. At the same time, pure dance movements are used to convey emotions in
various choreographic pieces.

To explain this point, I shall first focus my attention on the works of Mavin Khoo,
a British South Asian contemporary Bharatanatyam dancer who creates works
juxtaposing Bharatanatyam movement vocabulary and ballet technique, and explicitly
acknowledges his global position through his understanding of issues of classicism
in Bharatanatyam and classicism in Ballet. By combining both the aesthetics, Khoo
has created a new aesthetic concept that has garnered critical acclaim from the
mainstream audience. This new aesthetic concept is based on the quintessential and
ineluctable structure of various bodily movements and it rigorously tries to
minimise every intrinsic quality of expression on the face.12 Suffice to say that
Khoo draws his new aesthetic idea from Balanchine's notion of classicism which is
exceedingly austere as it calls for revealing 'only the bare-bones' of the body to
the audience (Levin, 1983).

In his production 'Images of the Varnam13, which was premiered in 2001 at the Royal
Opera House in London, Khoo focused on the mastery of filigree detail of a pure
dance form of Bharatanatyam (nritta) juxtaposed with the stretchy symmetry of
classical ballet and created a blunt physicality of the form possessed with
muscular power and sheer athleticism.14 Similarly in his 'Lunar,' Khoo combines the
austerity of the form in ballet and Bharatanatyam. By juxtaposing excruciatingly
fast based 'tirmanams' of Bharatanatyam with ethereal lightness in his leaps,15
extensions, fluidity of movements from the classical vocabulary of ballet, and by
covering his face with a white mask Khoo once again accentuated his aesthetics of
the physical form (musculature of the body) in his contemporary Bharatanatyam.16
Another striking example of brusque physicality is seen in the prologue of Parallel
Passions17 where Khoo starts slapping the floor with tatta adavus of Bharatanatyam
which is juxtaposed with the pointe work of Alex Newton. This is followed with
Gemini in which a 'non-identical stylistic twinship' between Ballet and
Bharatanatyam continues shedding light on geometrical lines and technical prowess
(Roy, 2004).18
Similarly, Shobana Jeyasingh, an acclaimed British South Asian dancer/choreographer
lays emphasis on Bharatanatyam's movement lexicon and avoids the dramatic modes of
narratives and lyrics in her contemporary works. Jeyasingh states that classicism
in Bharatanatyam for her is made up of geometric shapes, a series of triangles in
space and she intends to manipulate "this classical language with its objective
technique and almost mechanical and impersonal quality to introduce a degree of
idiosyncrasy" (1990). Jeyasingh disagrees with the whole philosophy of Indian dance
theatre (including the concept of mukhaja abhinaya) and taking the form stripped
out of its lyrical content, she finds her own way of employing it. To illustrate
this point, I have discussed a few instances from her choreographic work 'Duets
with Automobiles' from a formalist point of view. This piece of work, choreographed
in 1993, was considered to be a groundbreaking contemporary work using
Bharatanatyam vocabulary. Perceived as a collaboration between Shobana Jeyasingh
and Terry Braun, this contemporary work fundamentally uses Bharatanatyam adavus as
metaphors to express an Indian woman's identity in an urban metropolitan London
city. Through various pure dance structures in parallel along with geometrical and
mathematical structures espoused by the dancers, the form of Bharatanatyam was
examined in detail.

Maintaining an emphasis on form and abstraction, 'Duets with Automobiles'19

certainly marks a new phase of understanding movement vocabulary in contemporary
Bharatanatyam. Jeyasingh has used the vocabulary of Bharatanatyam adavus (Nritta)
as an analogue for expressing the theme rather than the hermetic mime tradition of
hand gestures and eye movements. The three dancers had immobile facial expressions
but various pure dance movements were dissected, repeated, and performed in
different directions in a sparkling and a crystalline geometric pattern to emote
different sentiments. The piece opens with a dancer showing her back to the camera
and St. Paul's Cathedral20 is seen through a window frame. With an erect torso and
the feet placed close to each other the woman gradually looks at the camera with a
serious expression but turns her face back in a very sharp manner. The dancer
continues to show her back to the camera and runs her hand and forearm along the
window ledge. A growing fascination to admire St. Paul's Cathedral in London is
further nuanced with a gesture (Pataka hasta taken from the classical vocabulary of
Bharatanatyam) running across the window ledge a second time. The dancer then turns
her face to the camera and mimes a lotus with her palms but continues to maintain a
very serene expression on the face. This particular action is performed very slowly
exaggerating every turn of the palm to create the visual effect of a lotus
blossoming. Finally the camera shifts the attention to the first scene of a woman
beholding the sight of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Interestingly, the dancer
imbues an expression of amazement and wonder at the architectural grandeur of St.
Paul's Cathedral metaphorically through the motif of a blossoming lotus without any
kind of mobility on the face.

This contemporary piece of work continues with an enhanced series of jathi-s

recited in the manner of mnemonic syllables in the background. In the beginning of
this particular section, a single dancer segues from quick, staccato movements,
head turns and accelerated footwork, to slow creeping leg extensions as one
variation of an adavu interlaced in the next adavu corresponding to the mnemonic
syllables of the jathi. Quite overpoweringly, the focus then shifts to three
dancers who execute the same pure dance sequence albeit in an exquisitely lucid
fashion. They create geometric patterns in the space through various Bharatanatyam
adavus.21 In the latter part of the choreography the dancers, after a series of
harsh stamping on the wooden and marble floors in the plie position (araimandi
position), take their respective positions caressing and hugging the pillars.
Surprisingly, even while caressing the pillars the dancers eliminate any kind of
facial expression.

Jeyasingh argues that these pure dance movements projected by the dancers and
executed within the building structures of London express certain empowered notions
of an 'urban identity for Indian womanhood' who epitomizes the female energy of a
Yakshi (a female-tree spirit in classical Indian sculpture) and this same energy
continues to thrive among the urban women in metropolitan cities.22 The hugging and
caressing of the pillars suggested metaphorically an affinity for a contemporary
urban life. The strength and power of a metropolitan woman was once again executed
in the concluding part of the piece where the dancers with clenched wrists (Musthi
hasta) directly thrust towards the camera indicate a sense of a pure intrepid urban
Indian woman.

Thus, through this formalist analysis of these choreographic pieces by Mavin Khoo
and Shobana Jeyasingh some might argue that contemporary Bharatanatyam projects a
particular kind of classicism. Fundamentally it is nritta classicism where the
emphasis is more on the technique of the form and the emphasis of force and
physical energy in that particular technique of rendering various pure dance
movements. This enabled such British South Asian dancers/choreographers to
communicate their central theme without facial expressions. At the same time by
breaking the tyranny of the frontal orientation (as seen in the Duets with
Automobiles) and the imperative of balanced symmetry gutted out (as seen in the
various works of Mavin Khoo) contemporary Bharatanatyam takes on an assertive
independence that could reach out to a wider British audience in the mainstream.

Conclusion
This essay has discussed the cultural/textual identity of Bharatanatyam in India.
But this identity has changed in the UK with the influx and the prolific population
of South Asian diasporic community. Bharatanatyam, renamed as British Bharatanatyam
or 'British South Asian dance,' is a representation of two forms. On the one hand,
Bharatanatyam was (and still is) perceived as a timeless reminder of an ancient
spiritual tradition among the Indian Tamil diaspora and the Srilankan diaspora in
Britain. However, the Srilankan and the Indian Tamil diaspora in the temples also
try to stifle the identity of Bharatanatyam as a regional form discarding its pan-
Indianness. Whilst this problem continues to persist in the temples, Bharatanatyam
is celebrated as a pan-Indian form in the community centres. But Bharatanatyam's
pan-Indian significance and its classicism rooted in the ancient texts of Sanskrit
and Tamil literature is rarely given due consideration in the mainstream, by the
native British audience. The practitioners in order to carve a niche for themselves
in the mainstream, in order to receive funding for their art form and to serve as
interlocutors for a wider British audience, had to create choreographic works based
on western notions of classicism which were devoid of any kind of emotional
significance given to the physiognomy.

I shall conclude this essay with an interesting narrative from my own experience as
a professional dancer in the UK. For my Bharatanatyam performance slated for a Sri
Lankan diasporic community, I was asked to perform only Tamil compositions such as
Adum Chidambaramo,23 Manatil uruthi vendum24 and Srinivasa Thiruvenkatamudaiya25
and the very word Bharatanatyam' is spelt with a 'th' (Bharathanatyam) in the
invitation thus laying a trenchant emphasis on its regional identity. In the week
after, for my Bharatanatyam performance for a wider south Asian diasporic audience
at the Church Wilson Hall in north London, I was requested to perform to the lyrics
of India's national anthem 'Vande mataram' thus laying emphasis on Bharatanatyam's
pan-Indianness. For a contemporary Bharatanatyam performance at the South Bank
theatre in London, the very English theme was 'No male egos.' Bharatanatyam in the
UK does not just have one identity but many. It does not belong to one Indian
diasporic community but to many. And the professional dancer in order to survive
and flourish must learn to negotiate this landscape of shifting meanings, and
histories in the UK.

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Anusha Subramanyam, Avanthi Meduri, Mira Kaushik, Chitra
Sundaram and Unnikrishnan for giving me their valuable comments on what is
understood by 'British Bharatanatyam / South Asian dance' in London.

1 The word margi means the authorised or the ideal path. The word marga suggests
that dance scholars saw certain styles as the authorised, mainstream forms of
dance. The Sanskrit tradition is called as the margi practice of an art-form. But
there were also other forms of dance, forms of dance that were known only in
particular regions. Such forms of dance were called as desi traditions. They
indicated a local origin and currency (Mandakranta Bose, 2001: p53).

2 Guru bhrama guru Vishnu guru devo maheshvarah guru sakshat parapbrahman tasmi
shri guru ve namah'. Translated it means I bow down to my teacher who represents
the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

3 Bharata Muni, The Natyashastra, edited and translated by Manmohan Gosh volume 1
(Calcutta : Manish Granthalaya Private Limited, 1967: pg 116).

4 The rasa sutra in Sanskrit: 'Vibhava, anubhava ,vyabhicari samyogat rasa

nishpatih'.

5 Chapter eight 'Rasa sutra' in Bharata's Natyashastra (edited and translated by

Manmohan Gosh. Text: Vol 1 (Calcutta: Manisha Granthalaya Private Limited, 1967).

6 For further information please refer to,

http://www.tamilnation.org/culture/dance/

7 For further information refer to Meduri, Avanthi's article (2007) in DRJ.

8 The repertoire of solo items in Bharatanatyam consist of an array of compositions

in Sanskrit and Tamil.

9 Kadam is a leading dance organization started in 1995 in the eastern region of

England (Bedfordshire).It was started with an aim to promote South Asian dance and
enhance the understanding of South Asian dance to a wider society in Britain within
an artistic and educational context.

10 Sampad is a leading agency in Birmingham which was started in 1996 with an aim
of appreciating and promoting diverse art forms from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
and Srilanka.

11 Khan, Naseem 'Who is afraid of abhinaya?' in Dance theatre Journal, Vol 13

Summer 1996, pg 45-47.

12 Bharata, the presiding author of the Natyashastra has enumerated various

movements of the minor limbs such as movements of the eyeballs (tara bheda),
eyebrows (bhru bheda) eyelids (puta bheda), nostrils (nasa bheda), mouth (asyaja
bheda), chin (chibuka bheda) and the cheeks (ganda bheda) but none of these
movements were utilised to communicate in contemporary Bharatanatyam.

13 Mavin Khoo created this work for himself along with two dancers from the Royal
Ballet. The varnam is a South Indian musical component being central to the
Bharatanatyam repertory. Sumasaayaka, the varnam Khoo had chosen is one of the
greatest musical compositions of its time (Khoo, 2003).

14 I draw this argument from a 1min video clip of the piece 'images in the varnam'
on Mavin khoo's website, www.mavinkhoo.co.uk

15 This concept of ethereal lightness in leaps was adopted by Khoo (2003) based on
Balanchine's notion of a perched flight .(please read , Balanchine's formalism
written by David Michael Levin (1983: pg35).

16 The Guardian review (2001) on the piece.

17 Parallel Passions was an anthology of several solo pieces which was premiered on
12th November 2003 at the Linbury Studio Theatre, London.

18 Pulse review (Spring 2004: pg13) penned by Sanjoy Roy

19 Duets with Automobiles was commissioned by the Arts Council and the BBC and
broad cast in 1993. The dancers make use of Office Buildings as their space for
performance in the film.

20 St. Paul's Cathedral is a historical national monument which also represents a

part of the British Cultural heritage.

21 The dancers execute a series of Bharatanatyam adavus such as tat tai ta ha

adavus, sarikkal adavus, visharu adavus, kudittamettu adavus taken from the
classical vocabulary of Bharatanatyam but expressed without eye movements (dristhi
bheda).

22 'Hybridity and Nomadic Subjectivity in Shobana Jeyasingh's 'Duets with

Automobiles' written by Valerie A Bringinshaw (2001: p106).

23 The lyrics of this particular composition are in Tamil penned by the legendary
Tamil freedom fighter Subramania Bharatiyar

24 This is a Tamil composition in Raga Bhairavi written by Subramania Bharatiyar

based on principles in life.

25 This is a Tamil composition penned in the early 20th century by legendary

composer Papanasam Sivam in Raga Hamsanandi extols the greatness of Lord Vishnu,
the Sustainer of the Universe among the Hindu Pantheon.

Shrikant Subramaniam is currently pursuing his MA degree in South Asian dance

studies at the University of Roehampton. The above article was a part of his MA
module entitled 'South Asian Dance' in global diaspora in the UK.