Focusing on the evolution of Hindu dance in Australia, this book explores its transformation through cultural exchange and travel. It provides a comprehensive analysis of how this unique dance form became popularized and de-provincialized, making it accessible to a wider audience. Ideal for dance enthusiasts and those interested in global cultural dynamics, it highlights the historical significance and the vibrant journey of this art form in a new context.
The Celestial Dancers: Manipuri Dance on Australian Stage charts the momentous journey of the popularisation of Manipur’s Hindu dances in Australia.
This book analyses the metaphysical and poetical notions and the processes of ‘rooting into a culture’ and ‘routing out of a culture’ in the context of South Asian diaspora in Australia. These diasporic narratives are often characterised by bifurcated and dislocated identities that exist in a liminal space, in-between two identities, two cultures, and two histories. Yet, ‘home’ remains, through acts of imagination, remembering and re-creation, an important reference point. The author argues that a clearer notion of politics of location is required to distinguish between the different kinds of ‘dislocation’ the immigrants suffer, both psychologically and sociologically. The diaspora is Australia is an under-studied topic, and this book fills a lacuna in South Asian diaspora studies by analysing and calling upon a wide range of works in this field from historical, anthropological, sociological, cultural, and literary studies.