Performing artistes in search of an identity
July 13, 2025
  • Read Ecopy
  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
    • Assam
    • Bihar
    • Chhattisgarh
    • Jharkhand
    • Maharashtra
    • View All States
  • World
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • North America
    • South America
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • Global Commons
  • Editorial
  • International
  • Opinion
  • Op Sindoor
  • More
    • Analysis
    • Sports
    • Defence
    • RSS in News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Culture
    • Special Report
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • G20
    • Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav
    • Vocal4Local
    • Web Stories
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Law
    • Health
    • Obituary
    • Podcast
MAGAZINE
  • ‌
  • Bharat
    • Assam
    • Bihar
    • Chhattisgarh
    • Jharkhand
    • Maharashtra
    • View All States
  • World
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • North America
    • South America
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • Global Commons
  • Editorial
  • International
  • Opinion
  • Op Sindoor
  • More
    • Analysis
    • Sports
    • Defence
    • RSS in News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Culture
    • Special Report
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • G20
    • Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav
    • Vocal4Local
    • Web Stories
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Law
    • Health
    • Obituary
    • Podcast
Organiser
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Operation Sindoor
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Culture
  • Defence
  • International Edition
  • RSS in News
  • Magazine
  • Read Ecopy
Home General

Performing artistes in search of an identity

by Archive Manager
Dec 5, 2010, 12:00 am IST
in General
FacebookTwitterWhatsAppTelegramEmail

THIS book, tracing the history and contemporary practice of performing arts, strings together a number of essays which discuss aspects of the actress and women-dancer stories in Indian theatre and dance during the colonial and post-colonial periods. The central question it raises is: despite her ambivalent position, what roles did the actress-dancer-performer play in shaping the colonial and subsequently the nation’s culture?

In trying to answer this question, the author Bishnupriya Dutt, daughter of legendary theatre personality Utpal Dutt and Associate Professor in Theatre Studies at JNU along with Urmimala Munsi, a Visiting Faculty at JNU tries to analyse the problematic area of performing arts and the actress’s and woman dancer’s performance styles, vocabulary and language to reveal a commonality as well as the differences with European colonial paradigms and its legacies. They also try to reconstruct the actual performative language to explore the meanings of the performative gestures and the aesthetic historical codes and vocabularies which remain hidden and ignored, while using the rupture between the dancer and the actress within the colonial context as its starting point.

The book, divided into two sections, talks about the actress in the first while in the second, discusses the woman dancer. Linked as they are by the common trajectory of having been a part of the same history, society and culture, they emerge as performers who evolved in different ways as they encountered some common and many unique situations.

In the first section, the first chapter looks on English actresses in India who are regarded as pioneers of the Indian theatrical culture and the entertainment space against which they were presented. In the colonial era, the actresses played their roles as femme fatales whose history is one of a socio-cultural lifestyle imbibed in the club culture, balls, outdoor and indoor entertainment and the theatre. The second chapter looks at the first generation of Indian actresses and their role in shaping the new public sphere within the historical framework of the actress-prostitute debate centres on issues like morality, respectability and the nation.

This is a book for academicians engaged in performing arts and for dancers and women performers in theatre especially.

-MG
(Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd, B1/I-1, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area, Mathura Road, New Delhi-110 044; www.sagepub.in)

ShareTweetSendShareSend
✮ Subscribe Organiser YouTube Channel. ✮
✮ Join Organiser's WhatsApp channel for Nationalist views beyond the news. ✮
Previous News

You can create your brand equity

Next News

Houses handed over to landslide affected people in Karwar, Karnataka Return something to the society which has given us everything-Bhaiyaji Joshi

Related News

Representative image

Bharat Utsav in Russia brings rich cultural legacy and artistic spirit of India

(Left) Late Sanjay Gandhi with his mother nad late former PM Minister of India Indira Gandhi who had imposed emergency in 1975

Sanjay Gandhi: The Fascist Prince of the 1975 Emergency

Ayodhya Ram Mandir

Ayodhya: Ticketing facility now at Ram Mandir premises; Indian Railways brings seamless travel experience to pilgrims

Representative Image

July 13 in history of J&K: A day of treason, not martyrdom; Know the truth about the black day 

Devotees offering bela patri and water to the Shivlinga on the ocasion of Shravan month as they worship Bhagwan Shiva

Bilwa Blessings: A spiritual tradition and healing with Bhagwan Shiva

India successfully test-fires Astra missile with indigenous radio frequency seeker and unveils DRDO’s Mounted Gun System

Twin defence triumph for Bharat: Indigenous Astra missile and mounted gun system successfully tested

Load More

Comments

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Organiser. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.

Latest News

Representative image

Bharat Utsav in Russia brings rich cultural legacy and artistic spirit of India

(Left) Late Sanjay Gandhi with his mother nad late former PM Minister of India Indira Gandhi who had imposed emergency in 1975

Sanjay Gandhi: The Fascist Prince of the 1975 Emergency

Ayodhya Ram Mandir

Ayodhya: Ticketing facility now at Ram Mandir premises; Indian Railways brings seamless travel experience to pilgrims

Representative Image

July 13 in history of J&K: A day of treason, not martyrdom; Know the truth about the black day 

Devotees offering bela patri and water to the Shivlinga on the ocasion of Shravan month as they worship Bhagwan Shiva

Bilwa Blessings: A spiritual tradition and healing with Bhagwan Shiva

India successfully test-fires Astra missile with indigenous radio frequency seeker and unveils DRDO’s Mounted Gun System

Twin defence triumph for Bharat: Indigenous Astra missile and mounted gun system successfully tested

Kapil Sibal

Kapil Sibal citizenship argument stirs controversy: Claims burden to prove illegality lies on State, not individuals

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (Photo: X, Devendra Fadnavis)

Maharashtra clears “Special Public Security Bill”: All you need to know

Vedic sages’ legacy can inspire Bharat’s scientific self reliance

Revisiting ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ in the Preamble: Reclaiming India's Constitutional Integrity

Revisiting ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ in the Preamble: Reclaiming India’s Constitutional Integrity

  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Cookie Policy
  • Refund and Cancellation
  • Delivery and Shipping

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies

  • Home
  • Search Organiser
  • Bharat
    • Assam
    • Bihar
    • Chhattisgarh
    • Jharkhand
    • Maharashtra
    • View All States
  • World
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • North America
    • South America
    • Europe
    • Australia
    • Global Commons
  • Editorial
  • Operation Sindoor
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Defence
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Business
  • RSS in News
  • Entertainment
  • More ..
    • Sci & Tech
    • Vocal4Local
    • Special Report
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Politics
    • Law
    • Economy
    • Obituary
    • Podcast
  • Subscribe Magazine
  • Read Ecopy
  • Advertise
  • Circulation
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Policies & Terms
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Refund and Cancellation
    • Terms of Use

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies