'Inventing Tradition: Bharatanatyam as a Necessary Fiction' a talk by Gitanjali Kolanad at C. D. Deshmukh Auditorium, Main Building, India International Centre (IIC), Lodhi Estate > 6:15pm on 21st February 2014

Time : 6:15 pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Place : C. D. Deshmukh Auditorium, Main Building, India International Centre (IIC), 40 Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi-110003
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Stations - 'Khan Market(Vilolet Line)' & 'Jor Bagh(Yellow Line)'
Area : Lodhi Road Area Events

Event Description : The Lecture “Inventing Tradition: Bharatanatyam as a Necessary Fiction” by Gitanjali Kolanad (Kalakshetra) is part of the SHSS Inaugural Lecture Series organized by The School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS), Shiv Nadar University. These are weekly public lectures delivered by the faculty members of SHSS covering their current work and research. In 1930, Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy introduced a bill for the “prevention of the dedication of women to Hindu temples” in the Madras Legislative Council. Right away, two camps emerged, pro and anti-Devadasi abolition, each with its own narrative. In the intervening years Bharatanatyam has flourished, not only in India but globally, proving Reddy right: twelve year old girls need not to be harmed for the preservation of an art form. Gitanjali Koland urges that the fictitious popular history of Bharatanatyam allowed innovations to the style that served the interests of dancers. Present-day nostalgia for more ‘authentic’ tradition reverses heroes and villains, but re-enacts the same convenient fictions. 

Language : English 

About the Artist : Gitanjali Kolanad was involved in the practice, performance and teaching of Bharatanatya for close to forty years, dancing in London, New York, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Toronto, Tokyo, Delhi, Bombay and Madras. She has written numerous articles, given lectures and workshops, and conducted residencies on Bharatanatyam and the Kerala martial art form, Kalaripayatu.Gitanjali’s short story collection ‘Sleeping with Movie Stars’ was published in January 2011 by Penguin India. She is currently working on a novel set in 1930s Tanjore.

Organization : Shiv Nadar University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences. 

Shiv Nadar University is an international, multi-disciplinary research-led university. Located on a 286-acre campus in India's National Capital Region, the University offers undergraduate, post-graduate, and doctoral programs in a range of disciplines in engineering, humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, communication, business, and education. SNU is a private philanthropic institution established by the Shiv Nadar Foundation in 2011 through an act of the State of Uttar Pradesh.

Related Events : Talks | Classical Dance | Dance