audiobook Inter-Ethnic and Religious Conflict Resolution in Nigeria by From Brand: Lexington Books in History

Description

Dancing Bodies of Devotion: Fluid Gestures in Bharata Natyam examines how Bharata Natyam; a traditionally Hindu storytelling dance form; moves across religious boundaries through both incorporating choreography on Buddhist; Christian; Muslim; and Jain themes and the pluralistic identities of participants. Dancers traverse religious boundaries by reformulating an aesthetic foundation based on performative rather than solely textual understandings of rasa; conventionally defined as a formula for how to physically craft emotion on stage. Through the ethnographic case studies of this volume; dancers of Bharata Natyam innovatively demonstrate how the rasa of devotion (bhakti rasa); surprisingly absent from classic dance-related texts; serves as the pivotal framework for expanding on their own interreligious thematic and interpretive possibilities. In contemporary Bharata Natyam; bhakti rasa is not just about enhancing religious experience; instead; these dancers choreographically adapt various religious identities and ideas in order to emphasize pluralistic cultural and ethical dimensions in their work. Through the dancing body; multiple religious and secular interpretations fluidly co-exist.