Programme
Janet O'Shea
Reader
The School of Arts and Education
Middlesex University
E/ j.o'shea@mdx.ac.uk
From Temple to Battlefield: Bharatanatyam in Sri Lanka
This paper examines issues of identity as expressed in Sri Lankan articulations of the classical Indian dance form Bharatanatyam. In the primarily Tamil Jaffna and Vanni regions, Bharatanatyam is an emblem of a distinct ethnic identity rooted in the putative nation-state of Tamil Eelam. Other Sri Lankan Tamils perform and patronize the dance form as an expression of a classical Tamil Hindu tradition that is distinct from the Sinhalese Buddhist culture of the Sri Lankan majority. Meanwhile in Colombo, Sinhalese have adopted the form as a marker of respectable female identity. This suggests that Bharatanatyam, refigured in India in the early twentieth century as an emblem of Indian national identity, plays several, conflicting roles in the formation of Sri Lankan national identities. This paper examines these divergent identities as they grapple with competing versions of Sri Lankan national identity and their relationship to Indian political policy and cultural identification
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Dr. O'Shea's main area of research is the South Indian dance form bharatanatyam.
She has trained in Balasaraswati’s style of bharatanatyam, as a student of
Nandini Ramani, of Chennai, India. Her book
At
Home in the World: Bharata Natyam on the Global Stage (2007)
investigates the twentieth-century history of bharatanatyam, considering
transformations in choreography, presentation, and pedagogy as they intersect
with large-scale social, political, and economic concerns. She has published
articles in a range of periodicals, including The Drama Review,
Dance Research Journal and Asian Theatre Journal as well as in
Pulse and Confluences. Her research activities have been supported by the
American Institute of Indian Studies, the British Academy, and the Arts and
Humanities Research Council.