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ISBN: PB: 9781849042796

ISBN: HB: 9781849042789

Hurst Publishers

November 2013

320 pp.

21.6x13.8 cm

PB:
£25,00
QTY:
HB:
£50,00
QTY:

Categories:

Illicit Worlds of Indian Dance

Cultures of Exclusion

For sale in CIS only!

Until the 1930s no woman could perform in public and retain respectability in India. Professional female performers were courtesans and dancing girls who lived beyond the confines of marriage, but were often powerful figures in social and cultural life. Women's roles were often also taken by boys and men, some of whom were simply female impersonators, others transgender.

Since the late nineteenth century the status, livelihood and identity of these performers have all diminished, with the result that many of them have become involved in sexual transactions and sexualised performances. Meanwhile, upper-class, upper-caste women have taken control of the classical performing arts and also entered the film industry, while a Bollywood dance and fitness craze has recently swept middle class India.

In her historical and on-the-ground study, Anna Morcom investigates the emergence of illicit worlds of dance in the shadow of India's official performing arts. She explores over a century of marginalisation of courtesans, dancing girls, bar girls and transgender performers, and describes their lives as they struggle with stigmatisation, derision and loss of livelihood.

About the Author

Anna Morcom is Senior Lecturer in the Music Department at Royal Holloway, University of London. She speaks fluent Hindi and Tibetan and has spent many years researching music and dance in India and Tibet. Her publications include "Hindi Film Songs and the Cinema" and "Unity and Discord: Music and Politics in Contemporary Tibet".