Christian Themes and the Role of the Nāyikā in Bharatanāṭyam

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-289
Author(s):  
Katherine C. Zubko
Keyword(s):  
Social Critique ◽  
Indian Woman ◽  
Classical Dance ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Indian Classical Dance

Within the Indian classical dance style of bharatanāṭyam, performers traditionally embody the stories of Hindu gods and goddesses. This paper discusses selected examples of how Christian themes have been incorporated into the art form by both Hindu and non-Hindu participants, including the adaptation of the aesthetics of the nāyikā, a female heroine yearning for her absent beloved. In an extended case study, I examine the presentation of one such unique nāyikā, a Christian Indian woman who contracts HIV from her husband, in particular demonstrating how various gesture sequences draw upon the recognizable, empathetic foundation of the suffering heroine to depict the realities of the illness of HIV. The despair and pain of the nāyikā, and the role of a sakhī as sympathetic doctor, invite audiences into a familiar aesthetic framework that also creates receptivity towards a significant social critique.

Drama in Education Reaching Beyond the “Art Form or Teaching Tool” Dichotomy

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 70-77
Author(s):  
Irina Lešnik
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Education ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Drama In Education ◽  
History Curriculum ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Creative Solutions ◽  
Theatre Pedagogy ◽  
Emotional Level

Abstract In the following article we try to re-evaluate, the place drama occupies in contemporary elementary education. By limiting the role of drama to literature studies and theatre productions, we lose a greater potential Theatre Pedagogy has to offer to a much broader educational spectrum. The participatory practices of Theatre and Drama in Education (TiE, DiE) promote active learning, based on a most organic children’s activity - play. While students co-create the fictional world of drama, teacher's guidance is crucial in setting new challenges, encouraging students to find creative solutions and reflect on often-complex social issues. Because of its art component, drama challenges the participants on a cognitive as well as emotional level, becoming a truly transformational experience. As such, Drama in Education is especially useful when approaching sensitive and controversial topics. This thesis is presented on a case study observing Year 6 students at St’ Michael’s CE Academy in Birmingham, UK, using Drama in Education method as part of History curriculum.

scholarly journals Chinese Paper Cutting: Opportunities for Revitalisation in Contemporary Design

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jieying Huang
Keyword(s):  
Universal Access ◽  
Folk Culture ◽  
Product Packaging ◽  
The Public ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Potential Strategy ◽  
Traditional Patterns ◽  
Design Case Study

<p><b>As a result of globalised development and the rise of capitalism, the craft of traditional Chinese paper cutting is facing marginalisation. The loss of this craft has resulted in a loss of opportunities to share the valuable role of this art form: to bring good wishes to people. The revitalisation of paper cutting as a component of contemporary design offers a strategy to sustain the value and meaning of this craft.</b></p> <p>My research explores a potential strategy that supports the transformation of Chinese paper cutting in the contemporary context through its application in design practice. This research investigates the traditional patterns applied to Chinese paper cutting and their implication and symbolic meaning within Chinese folk culture. Through the development of a criteria-led design case study, this research aims to translate these concepts into the formation of new design outcomes applicable to product packaging.</p> <p>As an element of packaging design, this approach intends to take advantage of the democratisation of and universal access to this medium ensuring wide dissemination to the public.</p> <p>The purpose of this research is to translate traditional paper cutting into a contemporary design approach that enables the values of this special Chinese craft to prosper.</p>

Columbia Pictures and the Great Depression: A Case Study of Political Writers in Hollywood

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Scott
Keyword(s):  
Great Depression ◽  
Political Comedy ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Art Form

This analyses the largely neglected and underestimated role of screen writers in 1930s Hollywood, an era when the art of movie writing actually made great strides as an art form. It considers the significance of three Columbia writers – Sidney Buchman, Robert Riskin, and Jo Swerling, why they were able to flourish at this small studio with the support of mogul Harry Cohn, and their role in the making of Frank Capra’s populist classics – notably Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939). It examines how these scribes responded to the Great Depression not only by becoming active in the newly-formed Screen Writers Guild but also in writing scripts that injected populist values into the Capra movies as well as seemingly non-political comedy films like Platinum Blonde (1931) and Theodora Goes Wild (1935).

Scheduling race

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anamik Saha
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Cultural Process ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Minority Programming

This chapter argues, following Garnham’s lead, that the scheduling of ‘minority programming’ and the commitment to finding, or rather, creating audiences for this type of programming is a much more crucial moment in the cultural process than receiving the commission to make the programme in the first place. The relatively small amount of research literature stresses the process of scheduling as an ‘art form’, or as Jonathan Ellis puts it, the last creative act. But this chapter goes further and emphasises the ideological role of scheduling – specifically in relation to the representation of racialised minorities. Using a case study of British South Asian television workers reflecting on their experience of scheduling, the narrative demonstrates how this consideration is neglected and particularly opaque within a stage of production that has a determining effect on the recognition and representation of minorities on television.

Lifting Bodies: interactive dance – finding new methodologies in the motifs prompted by new technology – a critique and progress report with particular reference to the Bodycoder System

2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIE A. WILSON ◽  
MARK A. BROMWICH
Keyword(s):  
New Technology ◽  
Progress Report ◽  
Detailed Case ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
New Methodologies

This paper offers a critique of what are seen as key issues which are problematised within the field of interactive dance, centring on the role of the various artists and technologies involved in the development of interactive dance systems, the notion of interactivity versus non-interactivity, and the influence of traditional single art-form practices. The paper proposes that it is only through identifying the particular motifs promoted by the technology itself that a way forward can be found, and an interactive dance aesthetic can begin to emerge in earnest. The arguments presented in this paper are framed within the context of the authors' long-term work and collaboration within the area of interactive dance, and provides a detailed case study of the piece Lifting Bodies (1999).

scholarly journals BETWEEN ‘CELESTIAL MAIDEN’ AND ‘SACRED PROSTITUTE’: THE MYTH OF THE DEVAͲDS5 IN THE IMAGINARY OF THE CONTEMPORARY INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE PRACTITIONERS

SYNERGY ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marinescu Angelica ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Classical Dance ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Past ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Indian Classical Dance ◽  
Medieval India ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Indian Art

One of the most controversial discussions in the contemporary Indian arts environment remains the connection of the post-colonial classical dance practice with the DevadƗsƯ or the MaharƯ, the temple dancing girls. Born in the Early Medieval India, amidst and in close connection to the Bhakti and the Tantric movements, abiding in the temple institution, the so-called ‘DevadƗsƯ temple system’ remains a mystery, between awe and fascination to the nowadays practitioner and connaisseur of Indian arts. While tracing back the socio-religious contexts that brought the temple dancers on the foremost place of the stage of Indian art history, the author looks for the understanding of this myth in the imaginary and the reality of contemporary practitioners, from the perspective of a foreigner researcher-cum-practitioner of an Indian art form. The paper is based on consulting the existing literary sources concerning the DevadƗsƯ system, and the research is focusing on the nowadays classical dance practitioners’ imaginary (re)construction(s) of this system. Till today, here she stands, the woman-as-dance practitioner, either Indian or from any other part of the world, at the cross-road of all myths, imaginarily rooted in the past, but living all the aspirations of the nowadays social, cultural, religious, political dynamics, neither celestial maiden, nor sacred prostitute.

scholarly journals Batman, Pandaman and the Blind Man: A Case Study in Social Change Memes and Internet Censorship in China

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
An Xiao Mina
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Critique ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
Internet Censorship ◽  
Community Expression

While the internet has been examined as a utilitarian space for social movements, it also acts as a cultural space for personal and community expression about important social issues. While examining the particularities of the memetic form – often catchy humor, simple imagery, and remixing – the author examines meme culture as a vehicle for political and social critique in the context of China’s stringent web censorship and propaganda. She looks at social change memes that have arisen around internet censorship and in support of the blind lawyer activist Chen Guangcheng. First, she considers these memes as visual and creative practices that sidestep the mechanics of internet censorship in China. She then argues for the role of internet memes in challenging hegemonic media environments, and maintains that these actions should be considered important political acts in and of themselves.

scholarly journals Chinese Paper Cutting: Opportunities for Revitalisation in Contemporary Design

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jieying Huang
Keyword(s):  
Universal Access ◽  
Folk Culture ◽  
Product Packaging ◽  
The Public ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Potential Strategy ◽  
Traditional Patterns ◽  
Design Case Study

<p><b>As a result of globalised development and the rise of capitalism, the craft of traditional Chinese paper cutting is facing marginalisation. The loss of this craft has resulted in a loss of opportunities to share the valuable role of this art form: to bring good wishes to people. The revitalisation of paper cutting as a component of contemporary design offers a strategy to sustain the value and meaning of this craft.</b></p> <p>My research explores a potential strategy that supports the transformation of Chinese paper cutting in the contemporary context through its application in design practice. This research investigates the traditional patterns applied to Chinese paper cutting and their implication and symbolic meaning within Chinese folk culture. Through the development of a criteria-led design case study, this research aims to translate these concepts into the formation of new design outcomes applicable to product packaging.</p> <p>As an element of packaging design, this approach intends to take advantage of the democratisation of and universal access to this medium ensuring wide dissemination to the public.</p> <p>The purpose of this research is to translate traditional paper cutting into a contemporary design approach that enables the values of this special Chinese craft to prosper.</p>

scholarly journals A Critique of Gender Roles in Mahesh Dattani’s Dance Like a Man

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-45
Author(s):  
B Ajmi
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Classical Dance ◽  
Male Victim ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Royal Courts ◽  
Indian Classical Dance

Bharatanatyam is an ancient Indian classical dance form that originated from Tamil Nadu. It was performed by devadasis (prostitutes) in royal courts in the early period. Later, the elite Indian class separates it from devadasis and makes it more like a commodity. A man’s passion towards such kind of an art form creates commotion in a patriarchal society. His manhood is questioned and he is considered as inferior to the exaggerated version of masculinity. The breaking of particular roles which are destined to each gender in a society leads to tension within the patriarchy. Mahesh Dattani’s play Dance Like a Man explores themes like gender discrimination, stereotyping, gender roles and identity crisis. In reality, the problems of men due to gender discrimination is not discussed effectively. This play tries to give a clear picture of a male victim of gender discrimination through Jairaj’s character. The current research explores the problems in reversing gender roles, question on masculinity and involvement of society in carrying gender stereotypes as portrayed in Dance Like a Man.

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