Ranjabati sircar biography of william

Classicism, post-classicism and Ranjabati Sircar’s work: re-defining the terms of Indian contemporary dance discourses Alessandra Lopez y Royo* *I wish to thank the British Academy Society of South Asian Studies (SSAS) for a grant which enabled me to conduct research at the Dancers’ Guild in Kolkata in March/April 2002.

Introduction Contemporary dance in India is a very broad and composite category. Any performance that occurs in the present addresses itself to a contemporary audience, therefore contemporary dance in India includes those forms which, following a Western-based model, are referred to as ‘classical’ or ‘traditional’, as well as those other forms which seem to have moved away from such ‘classical’ models, without renouncing ‘classicism’ but following a different trajectory.

It is now becoming fairly common in Indian newspapers and magazines, among Indi