Uday Shankar and His Transcultural Experimentations Dancing Modernity

This monograph presents a specific experience of modernity within the context of Indian dance by looking at the transcultural journey of Indian dancer / choreographer Uday Shankar (1900b – 1977d). His popularity in Europe and America as an Oriental male dancer in the first half of the 20th century, and his worldwide recognition as the Ambassador of Indian culture, are brought into a historiographical perspective within the cultural and social reforms of early twentieth century India. By exploring his artistic journey beyond India in the period between the two world wars, and his experience of dance making, presentational technique and representation of India through various phases of his life, a path is forged to understanding the emergence of modernity in Indian dance.

Chapter 1 Uday Shankar and Indian Dance History.- Chapter 2 Modern Dance? Placing Shankar’s Transculturality in Colonial South Asia.- Chapter 3 Dancing ‘Oriental’ Masculinity: Uday Shankar and his Experiments in Modern Dance.- Chapter 4 An attempt at creating a modern institution.- Chapter 5 Beyond the Proscenium with Dance, Magic, and Film.- Chapter 6 The Illusive Legacy.

Urmimala Sarkar Munsi is Associate Professor in the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Her research interests include the role of Anthropology in critical dance studies; gender,  materiality and lived experience  in dance; contemporary choreography; and performance documentation. Urmimala’s previous publications include Moving Space: Women in Dance (2018, co-edited with Aishika Chakraborty), Engendering Performance: Indian Women Performers Searching for Identity (2010, co-authored with Bishnupiya Dutt), Traversing Tradition: Celebrating Dance in India (2010, co-edited with Stephanie Burridge), and the edited collection Dance: Transcending Borders (2008).