Tag Archive for Bharatanatyam

Krishnan Receives Special Citation from Dance Studies Association

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Congratulations to WUP author Hari Krishnan, whose book Celluloid Classicism: Early Tamil Cinema and the Making of Bharatanatyam received a special citation from the 2020 de la Torre Bueno© First Book Award Committee. 

The de la Torre Bueno First Book Award is an annual award offered by the Dance Studies Association for the best first book published in English in the field of dance studies. The de la Torre Bueno prizes are made possible by the generosity of Mary Bueno.

2020 de la Torre Bueno®First Book Special Citation:

“Hari Krishnan’s Celluloid Classicism: Early Tamil Cinema and the Making of Modern Bharatanatyam is an invaluable addition to scholarship on Bharatanatyam in the crucial period between the 1930s and 1950s, offering an impeccably researched and well-argued revision of the common recounting of this phase of the dance’s history which has it that devadasis, if they kept dancing, went into film while Brahmin women dominated the stage, and discourses on caste and morality kept the two realms separate. Krishnan’s archival work is impeccable: combining interviews with readings of key films and reconstructions of lost works using songbooks. Throughout, he is deeply attuned to gender, class, and caste, especially in charting devadasi genealogies in early cinematic works. He includes invaluable reflections on the complexity of working artists’ lives in these crucial periods, and argues persuasively that specific dimensions of some lives undergird the cinematic invention of “classical” bharatanatyam as a middle-class form.”

Book cover linking to book page.

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Hari Krishnan’s “Celluloid Classicism”

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In his book Celluloid Classicism, Hari Krishnan focuses on the representation of Bharatanatyam dance in Tamil Cinema between the late 1920s and 1950s. Krishnan is the first scholar to explore this particular relationship between film and dance in depth.

At Wesleyan University’s 43rd Annual Navaratri Festival on October 12th, Krishnan moderated a Q&A with Dr. Yashoda Thakore, who during her presentation commented on the influence of cinema on pieces in her performance. Dr. Thakore, a highly accomplished Kuchipudi and Devadasi Nrityam artiste, presented an excerpt of Kuchipudi dance, a style explored in Krishnan’s book.

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Photo by Wesleyan University Center for the Arts

Kuchipudi is one of eleven major Indian classical dances. Originating in the town of Kuchipudi, it has roots in religious art and the Hindu Sanskrit text of Natya Shastra. The style is known as a “drama-dance,” the drama expressed through different hand gestures and facial expressions. Krishnan’s book presents the various influences on Kuchipudi dance throughout its development, drawing on research that “examines how instantiations of dance in the cinema contributed to the formation of a regional or nationalized art form of Kuchipudi.” Telugu cinema in particular can be traced throughout Kuchipudi’s development. Thakore referenced the accompaniment of gongs in her Kuchipudi excerpt as having ties to representations in South Indian film.

 

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Photos by Wesleyan University Center for the Arts

Krishnan will present his work at the Annual Conference of South Asia at the University of Wisconsin in this weekend. His presentation will draw on research from Celluloid Classicism, focusing on the complex relationship that renowned South Indian dancer Rukmini Arundale had with Tamil Cinema.

Celluloid Classicisma: Early Tamil Cinema and the Making of Modern Bharatanatyam is out this month, from Wesleyan University Press. Join us to celebrate with Dr. Krishnan at RJ Julia Bookstore, located at 413 Main Street in Middletown, Connecticut, on December 3rd at 7 PM.