https://danceaffectionate.com Dance Affectionate Sun, 04 Apr 2021 17:02:54 +0000 https://danceaffectionate.com en https://danceaffectionate.com/The-Problematic-Danseuse Sun, 04 Apr 2021 16:52:11 +0000 Dance Affectionate https://danceaffectionate.com/The-Problematic-Danseuse The Problematic Danseuse: Reclaiming Space to Dance the Lived FeminineNirmala Seshadri Paper published in (2017) Diotima’s: A Journal of New Readings, Kozhikode, Kerala: Providence Women’s College, 54-79 Extract: Classical dance training and its performance may be viewed as a jettisoning of the dancer’s real life experience instead of its inclusion. Rather than move in autonomy and authenticity, the dancer’s body is disciplined into presenting itself within prescribed boundaries. Various societal forces collude to discipline the female dancer into conformity. Against this backdrop, I call the female Bharatanatyam dancer who defies societal yardsticks of acceptability, resisting disciplinarity to present her lived feminine - The Problematic Danseuse.In this practice-led research paper I examine, through the lenses of history, performance aesthetics and presentation, the approaches towards and challenges of representing the lived feminine through Bharatanatyam. Even as continued transgression may result in the marginalization and eventual erasure of the Problematic Danseuse, I emphasize that this act of erasing the Problematic Danseuse who does not fit conveniently into the mainstream agenda is after all, embedded in the history and emergence of the transfigured Bharatanatyam. Highlighting the various hegemonic forces that conspire to suppress the Problematic Danseuse in various ways, I propose that creators of alternative works in Bharatanatyam acknowledge that they occupy a different space, thus presenting their work in settings that facilitate the gradual building of viewership and a critical mass that seeks engagement, challenge and societal transformation. I suggest that in the treatment and resistance of the Problematic Danseuse lie the basis for some form of solidarity with other women who have expressed their lived feminine emphatically, in time past and present that might support her persistence in critiquing status quo and searching for alternate paradigms both within Bharatanatyam and in its wider sociocultural context.&nbsp; READ ESSAY <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1116b6fd385a37c32415f5e05126c1e623ce5ca99a91096c8489493b9ad4939b/Colors-03_5.1.1.png" data-mid="104216133" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1116b6fd385a37c32415f5e05126c1e623ce5ca99a91096c8489493b9ad4939b/Colors-03_5.1.1.png" /> Photo by Mervin Wong https://danceaffectionate.com/Bharatanatyam-and-Butoh Sun, 04 Apr 2021 16:57:52 +0000 Dance Affectionate https://danceaffectionate.com/Bharatanatyam-and-Butoh Bharatanatyam and Butoh: An Emerging Gendered Conversation through Site-Specific Dance in Chennai and Singapore Nirmala Seshadri Published in "The Moving Space: Women in Dance" (2018), Primus Publishers, New Delhi. Book Editors: Dr. Urmimala Sarkar Munsi and Dr. Aishika Chakraborthy <img width="1000" height="668" width_o="1000" height_o="668" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/443c183bc7c0562cca6334a3d0538b67ab92b098d9977a9b167bb23d0bf9c4c5/Nirmala-Seshadri-in-I-Carry-Your-Heart.jpg" data-mid="104213549" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/443c183bc7c0562cca6334a3d0538b67ab92b098d9977a9b167bb23d0bf9c4c5/Nirmala-Seshadri-in-I-Carry-Your-Heart.jpg" /> Extract: This practice-led research chapter engages with history, performance aesthetics, and presentation as it outlines the process by which a structured and codified form such as Bharatanatyam (the practice and performance of which is largely indoor and proscenium- based) was drawn into an outdoor space of improvisation and sensorial perception through Butoh, sculpture, poetry, music, and site-specificity. Two choreographic works serve as key points of reference—the site-specific works titled Crossroads: Journeys and Transformations through Life and Dance (2003–8) (hereafter, Crossroads) and I Carry Your Heart (2015). The works were choreographed and premiered in Chennai and Singapore respectively. Through the description of a creative process that opened up into a space of collaboration and cultural hybridization, this chapter explores how the choreographic process that interweaves sites and the dance forms (Bharatanatyam and Butoh) challenges the traditional ideas of the gendered body and provides the ground for the emergence of new contemporary expression in the Singapore milieu. In this chapter, I adopt the analytical lens of body as I examine the intercultural, interdisciplinary, and place/space dialogue that facilitated a shift from an embodied habitus into a fluid and hybridized concept of identity. Drawing on auto-ethnographic as well as ethnographic perspectives, I demonstrate that this intersecting space of Bharatanatyam, Butoh, and site-specificity offers scope for questioning the conventional notions of the body that are embedded in a classical dance form such as Bharatanatyam, as well as in ‘erasing cultural differences between ‘us’ and ‘them’’ to create hybrid spaces that hold immense possibilities for autonomy, re-contextualization and change with respect to the present-day female Bharatanatyam dancer. READ ESSAY https://danceaffectionate.com/Challenging-Patriarchy-through-Dance Sun, 04 Apr 2021 17:00:53 +0000 Dance Affectionate https://danceaffectionate.com/Challenging-Patriarchy-through-Dance Challenging Patriarchy through Dance Nirmala Seshadri Paper presented at World Dance Alliance Global Dance Event, New York, 2010. Published in "In Time Together", Texas Woman’s University (2011) <img width="750" height="888" width_o="750" height_o="888" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3d0b3d689978d3b4943b1fc62fe5713e4d46a07e99a0dfe518745b5c4569c6e4/Outcaste.png" data-mid="104213661" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/750/i/3d0b3d689978d3b4943b1fc62fe5713e4d46a07e99a0dfe518745b5c4569c6e4/Outcaste.png" /> Editor Prof. Linda Caldwell’s Note: Nirmala Seshadri leads the reader into a different sense of politics, the politics of gender and gender performed. She questions the patriarchal constructs experienced as an Indian girl growing up in Singapore made to learn Bharatanatyam as a means of maintaining a connection with India. By providing insights into her choreographic process examining issues relevant to her as a modern woman, she brings awareness to the patriarchal nature of Bharatanatyam as a dance form; she breaks the very form she knew, “challenging patriarchy not just through dance, but through change from within the dance form. READ ESSAY https://danceaffectionate.com/Curator-s-Note Sun, 04 Apr 2021 16:38:27 +0000 Dance Affectionate https://danceaffectionate.com/Curator-s-Note Curator’s NoteNirmala Seshadri <img width="5868" height="3912" width_o="5868" height_o="3912" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9da7b952364f0f6885d5e709ea7138f6f16a2f7534d89825b535d0802783ee78/Nirmala-17-Feb4255-Feb-15-2021.jpg" data-mid="104212617" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9da7b952364f0f6885d5e709ea7138f6f16a2f7534d89825b535d0802783ee78/Nirmala-17-Feb4255-Feb-15-2021.jpg" /> Photo by Charmaine Poh Welcome to our Dance Affectionate site! Truly moved by the thoughtful and thought-provoking contributions by the carefully selected artist contributors, I just HAD to step back for a moment to trace back to where and why we embarked on this project in the first place. It was just after the circuit breaker, that I invited to my home a small group of artist friends, including Mervin Wong and Jereh Leung. Amongst other things, we talked about my recent production The Problematic Danseuse and the need to start thinking of archiving my work at least of the last 2 decades. During the course of the conversation, the idea of a virtual living archive unfolded. Along with this emerged the possibility of inviting a group of artists to respond to my work that has over the years questioned normative patriarchal structures and sought to create alternative narratives and representations for the female performance body. Additionally, my own experience of working with a feminist approach as well as my observations and understanding of the experiences of other such artists in the field, had led me to believe firmly in the importance of building friendship and solidarity as we create against the grain. The pandemic had stepped in to accentuate the sense of isolation and need for care. Hence the title Dance Affectionate. I decided I would extend invitations to 5 artists who I felt would find resonance either by way of their interest and familiarity with my work and/or an alignment with their respective artistic practices.&nbsp; In The Problematic Danseuse, I introduced the concept of a wooden box from which my past was pulled into the present - costumes, ornaments and accessories, written text, performance dialogues, music, movement, expression as well as documentation by way of videos and stills. In Dance Affectionate, I re-opened the box (both literally and metaphorically), reflecting on additional content and providing cues over a span of about 6 weeks, to the invited artists - via Zoom and other online channels. The three dance and movement artists - namely Nrithya Pillai, Hasyimah Harith and Jereh Leung have responded to my ‘box’ in interesting and diverse ways. Nrithya’s response titled Fighting to be heard: Resurrecting the Aesthetics of an Appropriated Art brings to centre stage the historically silenced female voice of the marginalised courtesan community. Through the lens of caste, Nrithya complicates the notions of feminist resistance and sexual agency. In Interpreting Modern Expressions as Abhinaya Jereh views the abhinaya (dramatic aspect) of Bharatanatyam as a performance of gender that perpetuates the patriarchal gaze. He draws a parallel to the modern-day expressions of television and screen actresses, which he embodies and investigates from his personal location as a contemporary dancer who is cis male as well as queer. Hasyimah Harith in Death of a Malay-Muslim Female Dancer, responds through her personal experience of body policing and current reality of pregnancy. Through a series of interviews that she conducts with older female Malay dancers, she&nbsp; examines the concept of invisibility and the ageing female Malay dancer. In Young Body, photographer and filmmaker Charmaine Poh investigates the online patriarchal gaze and its adverse impact on the pre-teen female body. In her response, Charmaine explores the possibility of freedom from trauma, through internet avatar creation. Additionally for this project, Charmaine has interviewed the artists of Dance Affectionate, capturing their distinct processes in the form of short videos. I have been in artistic collaboration with multimedia artist Mervin Wong for close to 4 years now; he holds the key to most of my archival material. Mervin's&nbsp; response is a series of audiovisual portraits - What Lies Beyond, Body I,&nbsp; Radha, Now, Memory of Ashtapadi and Recomposition - Crossroads. Mervin engages with my work through his unique methods of observation, layering and construction to lend new texture and meaning. It has been such a pleasure interacting&nbsp; with the wonderfully talented artists. I thank the National Arts Council (Singapore) for its support in making this project a reality. As a living archive that is constantly evolving, I invite you to access and engage with the material on this site, in your own time. Through this project, I hope to generate a free space for anyone to come to their own understandings of the body - in relation to self, society and the pandemic. https://danceaffectionate.com/About-Nirmala-Seshadri Sun, 04 Apr 2021 17:02:54 +0000 Dance Affectionate https://danceaffectionate.com/About-Nirmala-Seshadri Nirmala Seshadri is a dance artist and researcher who seeks to recontextualise her classical dance form, Bharatanatyam. Her social justice perspective leads her to use the body and performance space to interrogate existing inequalities, problematizing boundaries of time, place, gender, and caste, among other social constructs. Her quest for autonomy and sensorial perception led her to Butoh. Bridging dance practice with theory, her research interests include kinesthesia and corporeality, gender, tradition and transition, site specificity, cultural hybridisation and the politics of identity. A recipient of the Young Artist Award from the National Arts Council (Singapore), she graduated with an MA in Dance Anthropology (distinction) from the University of Roehampton, London. <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/558e72dc81d86594886584437a21a88475b46fc1db8b099d1ab21f6793425c2f/4_Memory-of-Ashatapadi-B_1.3.3.png" data-mid="104214110" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/558e72dc81d86594886584437a21a88475b46fc1db8b099d1ab21f6793425c2f/4_Memory-of-Ashatapadi-B_1.3.3.png" /> Photo by Mervin Wong https://danceaffectionate.com/Main-Page Sat, 03 Apr 2021 05:49:23 +0000 Dance Affectionate https://danceaffectionate.com/Main-Page Dance Affectionate This project initiated by Nirmala Seshadri, imagines the performance space as a constantly evolving living archive situated within a virtual site.Nirmala invites three dance and movement artists - Nrithya Pillai, Hasyimah Harith and Jereh Leung to workshop new directions that consider communication reshaping as a result of the pandemic. Multimedia artist Mervin Wong and filmmaker Charmaine Poh have also been invited to provide their inputs to the exploration. NIRMALA SESHADRI MERVIN WONG NRITHYA PILLAI HASYIMAH HARITH JEREH LEUNG CHARMAINE POH CONNECT WITH US: INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK <img width="2097" height="2742" width_o="2097" height_o="2742" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6ccbdbc2f67bc2b6c902d991702ee929b920623dfe9a2e45d6db25fad9a9b830/Untitled-1-Recovered-01.png" data-mid="113792490" border="0" data-scale="82" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6ccbdbc2f67bc2b6c902d991702ee929b920623dfe9a2e45d6db25fad9a9b830/Untitled-1-Recovered-01.png" /> https://danceaffectionate.com/V3 Sat, 03 Apr 2021 18:41:10 +0000 Dance Affectionate https://danceaffectionate.com/V3 https://danceaffectionate.com/SPACER Sun, 04 Apr 2021 08:14:24 +0000 Dance Affectionate https://danceaffectionate.com/SPACER https://danceaffectionate.com/WHAT-LIES-BEYOND Sat, 03 Apr 2021 07:04:12 +0000 Dance Affectionate https://danceaffectionate.com/WHAT-LIES-BEYOND WHAT LIES BEYONDAudiovisual Portrait by Mervin Wong Exploration through layering, the observation of Nirmala's movement: it's variance, quality, and energy. What does her body mean to her at this time, and what does an expression through movement mean to her? The audio piece attached to this constructed visual is created from Nirmala's voice - strands of sound from her vocal chords, filtered into it's experienced and trained essence; I felt that the raw sounds from Nirmala's singing, through her trained voice evoked a quality of sound that paired to the exploration of movement within the visual. Click here to see/hear the full audiovisual portrait https://danceaffectionate.com/SPACER-copy Sun, 04 Apr 2021 08:22:24 +0000 Dance Affectionate https://danceaffectionate.com/SPACER-copy